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Using exposure biomarkers in children to compare between-child and within-child variance and calculate correlations among siblings for multiple environmental chemicals

Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology volume 22, pages 16–23 (2012)Cite this article

Abstract

Longitudinal measurements of biomarkers for metals, phthalates, environmental tobacco smoke, organochlorine and organophosphate pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls, and volatile organic compounds were made in blood and/or urine from a stratified, random sample of more than 100 elementary school-aged children living in an inner-city section of Minneapolis. Repeated measures of 31 exposure biomarkers indicate that between-child variance (B-CV) was greater than within-child variance (W-CV) for 8 compounds, B-CV was a significant proportion of total variance for 9 compounds, and variances were homogeneous for 14 compounds. Among siblings living in the same household, positive correlations were observed for biomarker concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls, organochlorine pesticides, metals, and volatile organic chemicals in blood, and total cotinine in urine. Biologic markers confirm that children from a low-income, ethnically diverse neighborhood experienced concurrent exposure to a variety of hazardous environmental chemicals during their everyday activities. Future monitoring studies should examine the nature and magnitude of children's cumulative exposure to both chemical and non-chemical stressors, especially in disadvantaged populations.

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Acknowledgements

This project was funded by two Science to Achieve Results (STAR) grants, R825813 and R826789, from the US Environmental Protection Agency. K. Sexton was partially supported by funding from the National Children's Study. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of funding agencies. Urine cotinine was measured in Stephen Hecht's laboratory at the University of Minnesota, and all other blood and urine biomarkers were measured by the National Center for Environmental Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in Atlanta, GA. We thank our colleagues at the University of Minnesota (Ann Fredrickson, John Adgate (now at the University of Colorado), Gurumurthy Ramachandran and Tim Church) who participated in various aspects of the study. We especially thank the school administrators, teachers, nurses, students, and their families who made this study possible.

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  1. University of Texas School of Public Health, Brownsville, Texas, USA

    Ken Sexton

  2. Department of Environmental Health Sciences, University of Minnesota, School of Public Health, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

    Andrew D Ryan

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Correspondence to Ken Sexton.

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Sexton, K., Ryan, A. Using exposure biomarkers in children to compare between-child and within-child variance and calculate correlations among siblings for multiple environmental chemicals. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol 22, 16–23 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/jes.2011.30

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