HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: dc07-2449v1 31/8/1574    most recent Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Wang, S.-L. Articles by Guo, Y. L. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Wang, S.-L. Articles by Guo, Y. L. Social Bookmarking                What's this?

Increased risk of diabetes and polychlorinated biphenyls and dioxins: a 24-year follow-up study of the Yucheng cohort

¹Division of Environmental Health and Occupational Medicine, National Health Research Institutes, Miaoli, Taiwan
²Institute of Environmental Medicine, College of Public Health, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan
³Department of Basic Medical Sciences, National Cheng-Kung University Medical College, Tainan, Taiwan
⁴Department of Health Business Administration, Hung-Kuang University, Taichung, Taiwan
⁵Department of Environmental and Occupational Medicine, National Taiwan University (NTU) College of Medicine and NTU Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan

leonguo{at}ntu.edu.tw

ABSTRACT

Objective: Polychlorinated biphenyls and dibenzofurans (PCBs/PCDFs) are important and persistent organic pollutants (POPs) within humans. Recent cross-sectional studies have detected increased concentrations of serum POPs within diabetic patients. We aimed to examine the association between previous high exposures to PCBs/PCDFs and the cumulative incidence of type 2 diabetes and hypertension.

Research Design and Methods: During the late 70s, the consumption of rice-bran oil laced with PCBs poisoned thousands of Taiwanese people. Between 1993 and 2003, we examined 1,054 Yucheng ("oil-disease") victims against neighborhood references, using a protocol blinded for POP exposure. Here we report the results derived from 378 Yucheng subjects and 370 matched references.

Results: The diabetic risk to members of the Yucheng cohort relative to their references was significantly increased for women (Odds Ratio=2.1, 1.1-4.5) but not for men, after the considerations of age, body mass index, cigarette smoking and alcohol intake. Yucheng women diagnosed with chloracne had an adjusted OR of 5.5 (95% C.I.: 2.3-13.4) for diabetes and 3.5 (1.7-7.2) for hypertension, as compared to those who were chloracne free.

Conclusions: Yucheng women, who had endured previous exposure to PCBs/PCDFs, suffered from increased incidences of diabetes, particularly for those who had retained significant levels of the pollutant, as evident from chloracne. When planning treatments against diabetes, the body burden of PCBs and dioxins should be carefully considered, especially for women.

CiteULike    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?