Associations between exposure to brominated flame retardants and hyperlipidemia risk in U.S. Adults

Environmental exposure to toxic brominated flame retardants (BFRs) has been confirmed to have detrimental effects on human health. The impact of serum BFRs on hyperlipidemia risk has not been sufficiently examined. Our objective is to identify both the individual and combined effects of serum BFRs on hyperlipidemia and to further investigate the most influential chemicals.

We included 7,009 individuals with complete details on 9 types of serum BFRs, hyperlipidemia, and other covariates from the NHANES in 2007-2016. Multivariate logistic regression was conducted to evaluate the individual impact of BFRs exposure on hyperlipidemia risk. We assessed the cumulative effect of BFRs on hyperlipidemia risk through weighted quantile sum (WQS) regression, quantile g-computation (QGC), and Bayesian kernel machine regression models.

PBDE 28, PBDE 47, PBDE 85, PBDE 99, PBDE 100, PBDE 154, PBDE 209, and PBB153 were found to be positively associated with hyperlipidemia risk. The results of WQS and QGC revealed consistent positive correlation. PBDE209 emerged as the most significant chemicals exerting influence. The restricted cubic splines regression further identified significant dose-response relationship.

Exposure to individual and combined serum BFRs has been associated with an increased risk of hyperlipidemia. The causal relationship still requires confirmation through large-scale cohort studies.