Perfluorinated compounds in blood of textile workers and barbers

12 perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) in human blood from workers in a textile mill in Shandong province and several barbershops in Tianjin were analyzed in this study. It was found that perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoate (PFOA) were the most prominent PFCs, with average concentrations of 5.73 μg/L and 5.46 μg/L for textile workers, and 2.55 μg/L and 2.84 μg/L for barbers. PFOS and perfluorohexanesulfonate (PFHxS) concentrations revealed a positive correlation in blood samples (p < 0.01), and concentrations among PFOS, perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA) and perfluorodecanoic acid (PFDA) also revealed positive correlations (p < 0.01). The influence of gender and age on PFC concentration in blood was also investigated, and the results showed that there was no statistically significant difference between the male and female samples, as well as in samples from people with different ages. Generally speaking, the textile workers may face a higher exposure of PFCs than barbers.

In the present study, we found that workers in both textile mill and barbershops may have higher PFOA exposure than general people, and the result showed that the average concentrations of PFCs in blood samples of textile workers revealed two times higher than those of barbers.Figure optionsDownload as PowerPoint slide