Urinary Biomarkers of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons Are Associated with Cardiometabolic Health Risk

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) are both man-made and naturally occurring environmental pollutants that may be related to cardiometabolic health risk. To determine whether PAH is associated with obesity in the adult population and to examine whether urinary concentrations of PAH metabolites are associated with differences in how obesity relates to 3 or more risk factors for the metabolic syndrome (3RFMetS), type 2 diabetes (T2D), hypertension, and dyslipidemia. A total of 4765 adult participants from the 2001-2008 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey were examined. The association between 8 urinary hydroxylated PAH metabolites, obesity, and health were examined using weighted logistic regressions adjusting for age, sex, ethnicity, PIR, smoking status, and urinary creatinine. There was a positive dose-dependent association between obesity and 2-phenanthrene quintiles (P trend