Blood levels of organotin compounds and their relation to fish consumption in Finland

The objective of this study was to measure the concentrations of organotin compounds in the whole blood of Finnish male fishermen (n = 133), their wives (n = 94), and other family members (n = 73), and to investigate their associations with background variables. The concentrations were generally low, less than the limit of quantification (LOQ) for the vast majority of compounds and samples. Of the organotin compounds (mono-, di-, and tributyltin, mono-, di-, and triphenyltin, and dioctyltin), only triphenyltin was detected in more than just a few samples (in 37 of 300 samples, LOQ = 0.04 ng/ml). These were mainly the samples of fishermen (26/37) and their wives (10/37). For statistical analysis, concentrations of triphenyltin were divided into two categories, < LOQ and > LOQ. Of the different background variables, age and fish consumption contributed the most to the triphenyltin concentrations. When age and fish consumption (g/day) were divided into three categories, odds ratios comparing the highest with the lowest category were 3.88 for age (95% CI 1.36–11.09) and 3.48 for fish consumption (1.36–8.94), respectively. Compared with females, males had an odds ratio of 1.51 of having the concentration of triphenyltin > LOQ (0.72–3.14). To the best of our knowledge, this study confirmed for the first time with human samples that fish consumption can be associated with triphenyltin concentration in whole blood.