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Validation of questionnaire‐based long‐term dietary exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls using biomarkers
Author(s) -
Bergkvist Charlotte,
Åkesson Agneta,
Glynn Anders,
Michaëlsson Karl,
Rantakokko Panu,
Kiviranta Hannu,
Wolk Alicja,
Berglund Marika
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
molecular nutrition and food research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.495
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1613-4133
pISSN - 1613-4125
DOI - 10.1002/mnfr.201200196
Subject(s) - food frequency questionnaire , medicine , population , exposure assessment , cohort , spearman's rank correlation coefficient , environmental health , rank correlation , zoology , biology , mathematics , statistics
Scope The health consequences of lifelong low‐level exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) via food are largely unknown, mainly due to the lack of large population‐based prospective studies addressing this issue. We validated long‐term food frequency questionnaire (FFQ)‐based dietary PCB exposure against concentrations of six PCB congeners in serum. Methods and results Dietary PCB exposure was estimated in the Swedish Mammography Cohort by constructing a recipe‐based database of CB‐153, an indicator for total PCBs in food. The Spearman rank correlation (adjusted for within‐person variability) was assessed between concurrent (2004–2006), past (1997), and long‐term (mean of 1997 and 2004–2006) FFQ‐based dietary PCB exposure, respectively, and the following serum PCB congeners, CB‐118, CB‐138, CB‐153, CB‐156, CB‐170, and CB‐180, in women (56–85 years of age, n = 201). The correlation between FFQ‐based dietary PCB exposure and serum CB‐153 was 0.41 ( p < 0.001) for the concurrent (median 1.6 ng/kg body weight) and 0.34 ( p < 0.05) for the past (median 2.6 ng/kg body weight) exposure assessment. Long‐term validity of FFQ‐based PCB estimates and the six serum PCB congeners ranged from 0.30 to 0.58 ( p < 0.05). Conclusion FFQ‐based PCB exposure estimates show acceptable validity in relation to PCB concentrations in serum, justifying their use in large‐scale epidemiological studies.