Research | Children’s Health Relationship of Thyroid Hormone Levels to Levels of Polychlorinated Biphenyls, Lead, p,p´- DDE, and Other Toxicants in Akwesasne Mohawk Youth (original) (raw)

Abstract

BACKGROUND: It is well documented that acute exposure to high levels of persistent organic pollutants, such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), p,p´-dichlorophenyldichloroethylene (p,p´-DDE), and hexachlorobenzene (HCB), can affect human health including thyroid function. Chronic exposure to multiple toxicants is common but difficult to analyze, and most prior studies have focused on adults or newborns, creating a gap in our understanding of multitoxicant effects among adolescents. OBJECTIVE: We investigated whether levels of PCBs, p,p´-DDE, HCB, mirex, lead, and mercury reflecting past chronic exposure are associated with alterations in levels of thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), triiodothyronine (T3), total thyroxine (TT4), and free thyroxine (FT4) among older children and adolescents. METHODS: The sample consists of youth from the Akwesasne Mohawk Nation (n = 232) who reside in proximity to several industries that have contaminated the local environment. We used multiple regres...

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