Perfluorinated compounds in delivering women from south central Vietnam

The associations between age, body mass index (BMI), parity, place of residence (coastal or inland) and plasma concentrations of perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) were assessed in a study population from south central Vietnam. The study group consisted of 91 delivering women of varied age (18-40 years) from two different locations (37 urban, 36 rural and 18 with unknown residence). Perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), perfluorooctanoate (PFOA) and perfluorohexane sulfonate (PFHxS) were detected in 98-100% of all samples. PFOS (median 3.2 ng/ml) was the most common compound followed by PFOA (median 1.6 ng/ml), PFHxS (median 0.7 ng/ml) and perfluorononanoate (PFNA) (median 0.7 ng/ml). The women from the coastal city Nha Trang had higher concentrations of all investigated compounds than women from the inland district Dien Khanh. The two study locations are situated only 10 km apart and the diet is considered somewhat similar, however, women in Dien Khanh are more self-sufficient with locally produced food. The family income in Nha Trang is also most likely higher than in Dien Khanh and this may affect living conditions, e.g. quality of housing, which in turn may influence the exposure to PFCs. There were no associations between age, parity or BMI and the investigated PFCs. Linear PFOS constituted 83% of the sum of PFOS. This is considerably higher than reported in other studies from Europe and Australia and may indicate differences in exposure sources between countries, or differences in exposure time and persistency of the different isomers.