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. 2018 Jan;75(1):46-51.
doi: 10.1136/oemed-2017-104651. Epub 2017 Nov 13.

Half-lives of PFOS, PFHxS and PFOA after end of exposure to contaminated drinking water

Ying Li  1 , Tony Fletcher  2 , Daniel Mucs  3 , Kristin Scott  4 , Christian H Lindh  4 , Pia Tallving  4 , Kristina Jakobsson  1   4
Affiliations

Half-lives of PFOS, PFHxS and PFOA after end of exposure to contaminated drinking water

Ying Li et al. Occup Environ Med. 2018 Jan.

Abstract

Background: Municipal drinking water contaminated with perfluorinated alkyl acids had been distributed to one-third of households in Ronneby, Sweden. The source was firefighting foam used in a nearby airfield since the mid-1980s. Clean water was provided from 16 December 2013.

Objective: To determine the rates of decline in serum perfluorohexane sulfonate (PFHxS), perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoate (PFOA), and their corresponding half-lives.

Methods: Up to seven blood samples were collected between June 2014 and September 2016 from 106 participants (age 4-84 years, 53% female).

Results: Median initial serum concentrations were PFHxS, 277 ng/mL (range 12-1660); PFOS, 345 ng/mL (range 24-1500); and PFOA, 18 ng/mL (range 2.4-92). The covariate-adjusted average rates of decrease in serum were PFHxS, 13% per year (95% CI 12% to 15%); PFOS, 20% per year (95% CI 19% to 22%); and PFOA, 26% per year (95% CI 24% to 28%). The observed data are consistent with a first-order elimination model. The mean estimated half-life was 5.3 years (95% CI 4.6 to 6.0) for PFHxS, 3.4 years (95% CI 3.1 to 3.7) for PFOS and 2.7 years (95% CI 2.5 to 2.9) for PFOA. The interindividual variation of half-life was around threefold when comparing the 5th and 95th percentiles. There was a marked sex difference with more rapid elimination in women for PFHxS and PFOS, but only marginally for PFOA.

Conclusions: The estimated half-life for PFHxS was considerably longer than for PFOS and PFOA. For PFHxS and PFOS, the average half-life is shorter than the previously published estimates. For PFOA the half-life is in line with the range of published estimates.

Keywords: half-life; pfhxs; pfoa; pfos.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The interindividual variation of half-lives for perfluorinated and polyfluorinated substances in 106 participants in a panel study after end of exposure through contaminated drinking water, excluding outliers. PFHxS, perfluorohexane sulfonate; PFOA, perfluorooctanoate; PFOS, perfluorooctane sulfonate.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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