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. 2022 Jan 26;19(3):1379.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph19031379.

Geographic and Ethnic Variations in Serum Concentrations of Legacy Persistent Organic Pollutants among Men in the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Arctic Russia

Yulia Varakina  1 , Andrey Aksenov  1 , Dmitry Lakhmanov  2 , Anna Trofimova  1 , Rimma Korobitsyna  1 , Natalia Belova  1   3 , Dmitry Kotsur  1   4 , Tatiana Sorokina  1 , Andrej M Grjibovski  1   3   5   6 , Ludmila Popova  7 , Valery Chashchin  1   8   9 , Jon Øyvind Odland  10   11 , Yngvar Thomassen  1   9   12
Affiliations

Geographic and Ethnic Variations in Serum Concentrations of Legacy Persistent Organic Pollutants among Men in the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Arctic Russia

Yulia Varakina et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

The overwhelming majority of Arctic biomonitoring studies in humans include either pregnant or non-pregnant women of reproductive age while little attention is paid to toxic compounds concentrations in men. This study contributes with information of the present amounts of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in men living in Arctic Russia. We studied the serum concentrations of 11 polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) congeners and 17 organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) and some of their metabolites in samples collected from 92 adult men (mean age 43 years) from seven different settlements in Nenets Autonomous Okrug (NAO). The median concentrations of individual PCB congeners increased in the order PCB 183, PCB 180, PCB 118, PCB 138, PCB 153. The concentrations of o, p'-DDD, p, p'-DDD, aldrin, mirex and 1,2,3,5-TCB were in most cases below the quantification limit. The observed concentrations of PCBs and chlorinated pesticides were in the same range as those found in similar groups of women of these territories, but lower than of men in other Arctic countries. However, significant geographic differences between the settlements were observed with exceptionally high concentrations of PCBs in the Islands group. The highest serum ∑PCBs and β-HCH levels were observed in adult males aged 60-78 years. We found significant variations in serum concentrations of POPs across settlements and ethnic groups with exceptionally high concentrations of PCBs among the residents of the Arctic islands. At the same time, our findings suggest a considerable decrease in serum concentration of POPs over the last decade.

Keywords: PCBs; Russian Arctic; biomonitoring; indigenous peoples; men; pesticides.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest related to the publication of this article that should be reported.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Location of the study settlements, number of study participants and proportion of the total male population. The map was created using CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4 software (license certificate No 30064931). (https://www.coreldraw.com/) (accessed on 20 July 2021); the topographic base of the map was created with Natural Earth Free Vector and Raster Map Data (https://www.naturalearthdata.com) (accessed on 20 July 2021).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Median serum concentration of individual POPs in men in 2009 [32] and 2018 in Nelmin-Nos, Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Arctic Russia.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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