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Environmental exposure to pyrethroid pesticides in a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults and children: The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2007–2012
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Environmental exposure to pyrethroid pesticides in a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults and children: The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2007–2012

Hans-Joachim Lehmler, Derek Simonsen, Buyun Liu and Wei Bao
Environmental pollution (1987), Vol.267, p.115489
12/2020
DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2020.115489
PMID: 33254662
url
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/7708675View
Open Access

Abstract

Pyrethroids are an important class of insecticides, and thousands of tons of these compounds are used in the United States every year. This study characterized exposures to pyrethroids and assessed demographic, socioeconomic, and lifestyle factors that modulate pyrethroid exposure using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2007–2012, a nationally representative survey of the non-institutionalized population of the United States. Urinary levels of commonly used biomarkers of pyrethroid exposure, including 3-phenoxybenzoic acid (3-PBA), 4-fluoro-3-phenoxybenzoic acid (F-PBA), and cis-dibromovinyl-dimethylcyclopropane carboxylic acid (DBCA), were determined by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. The detection rate of 3-PBA, a nonspecific metabolite of several pyrethroids, was 78.1% in adults (N = 5233) and 79.3% in children (N = 2295). The detection rates of all other pyrethroid metabolites were <10%. The median urinary level of 3-PBA in adults was 0.47 μg/L (interquartile range, 0.14–1.22 μg/L). For children, the median urinary level was 0.49 μg/L (interquartile range, 0.17–1.29 μg/L). Age, gender, family income-to-poverty ratio (PIR), levels of physical activity, alcohol intake, and body mass index were associated with 3-PBA levels in adults. In children, age, gender, race/ethnicity, and PIR were associated with 3-PBA levels. 3-PBA levels also differed significantly across NHANES cycles, with higher levels observed in NHANES 2011–2012. Geometric mean 3-PBA levels in U.S. adults were 0.41 μg/L in NHANES 2007–2008, 0.41 μg/L in NHANES 2009–2010, and 0.66 μg/L in NHANES 2011–2012. In U.S. children, geometric mean 3-PBA levels were 0.40 μg/L in NHANES 2007–2008, 0.46 μg/L in NHANES 2009–2010, and 0.70 μg/L in NHANES 2011–2012. These results demonstrate that pyrethroid exposures remain a current environmental health concern and lay the foundation for further preclinical and epidemiological studies assessing human health risks associated with pyrethroids. [Display omitted] •Pyrethroid exposure was assessed in the U.S. population using urinary biomarkers.•3-PBA is near-ubiquitous in urine samples from U.S. adults and children.•Exposure to pyrethroids, measured with urinary 3-PBA levels, increased over time.•3-PBA levels are associated with demographic, socioeconomic and lifestyle factors.•Detection rates were low for urinary biomarkers of cyfluthrin and deltamethrin. Exposure to pyrethroid pesticides was widespread in a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults and children and varied by demographic, socioeconomic, and lifestyle factors.
 Pesticides Pyrethroids U.S. population Human exposure

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