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Age- and concentration-dependent elimination half-life of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin in Seveso children
Brent D Kerger1, Hon-Wing Leung, Paul Scott
1Health Science Resource Integration, Tallahassee, Florida, USA. brentkerger@att.net
Objective:
Pharmacokinetic and statistical analyses are reported to elucidate key variables affecting 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) elimination in children and adolescents.
Design:
We used blood concentrations to calculate TCDD elimination half-life. Variables examined by statistical analysis include age, latency from exposure, sex, TCDD concentration and quantity in the body, severity of chloracne response, body mass index, and body fat mass.
Participants:
Blood was collected from 1976 to 1993 from residents of Seveso, Italy, who were < 18 years of age at the time of a nearby trichlorophenol reactor explosion in July 1976.
Results:
TCDD half-life in persons < 18 years of age averaged 1.6 years while those > or =18 years of age averaged 3.2 years. Half-life is strongly associated with age, showing a cohort average increase of 0.12 year half-life per year of age or time since exposure. A significant concentration-dependency is also identified, showing shorter half-lives for TCDD concentrations > 400 ppt for children < 12 years of age and 700 ppt when including adults. Moderate correlations are also observed between half-life and body mass index, body fat mass, TCDD mass, and chloracne response.
Conclusions:
Children and adolescents have shorter TCDD half-lives and a slower rate of increase in half-life than adults, and this effect is augmented at higher body burdens.
Relevance:
Modeling of TCDD blood concentrations or body burden in humans should take into account the markedly shorter elimination half-life observed in children and adolescents and concentration-dependent effects observed in persons > 400-700 ppt.
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