School
School of Public Health
Document Type
Dissertation
Department (new version)
Public Health
Date of Award
2002
Degree Name by School
Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) School of Public Health
Abstract
Alaskan Native women may be at an increased risk of exposure to persistent organic pollutants (POPs) because they eat a subsistence diet that contains elevated levels of these chemicals. Research suggests that these chemicals may be capable of acting like estrogens, and thus could increase a woman's risk of developing breast cancer. The objectives of this research were to (1) determine overall body burdens of POPs in Alaskan Natives and compare these to results from the Second National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES II); (2) determine if geographical location within Alaska correlates with a woman's body burden of POPS; and (3) evaluate the relationship between body burden of POPs and breast cancer status. Laboratory values used in this project were analyzed at the National Center for Environmental Health/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (NCEH/CDC) laboratories using serum collected from Alaskan Native women from 1981–1987 and stored in the Arctic Investigations Serum Bank. An initial set of 131 samples (67 from women who were identified through the Cancer Registry and 64 control women who were cancer free) contained chart abstraction information about risk factors for breast cancer. A second data set contained laboratory measurements for an additional 82 women. All serum values were used in the body burden and geographical determinant analysis. After matching for age and collection date of the serum sample, only 116 samples of the initial 131 values were used in the breast cancer analysis. Results from the overall body burden sample showed that only hexachlorobenzene and trans-nonachlor were elevated as compared with the percentages of detectable levels of the analytes found in the NHANES II data. Results from comparison of POP means among geographical regions found that Beta-hexachlorocyclohexane, dieldrin, hexachlorobenzene, oxychlordane, trans-nonachlor, and PCB congeners 74, 118, 138, 153, and 180 were significantly elevated among the four regions. For the breast cancer study, it was determined that serum concentrations of POPs were statistically different between cases and controls for hexachlorobenzene, trans-nonachlor, total PCBs, PCB congeners 138 and 153, p,p ′ -DDE, cholesterol, and triglycerides. Levels were higher in controls for all aforementioned analytes except for p,p ′ -DDE and triglycerides.
ProQuest Publication Number
ProQuest ID
3064121
ISBN
978-0-493-82682-0
Recommended Citation
Socha, Marie Lenore, "Evaluation of persistent organic pollutant levels and effects in Alaskan natives" (2002). All ETDs from UAB. 7225.
https://digitalcommons.library.uab.edu/etd-collection/7225
Comments
DrPH