Observational Study Links Common Household Chemical to Cardiovascular Disease

October 9th, 2012

Observational Study Links Common Household Chemical to Cardiovascular Disease

Larry Husten, PHD

High levels of a man-made chemical widely used in common household products and detectable in more than 98% of people may increase the risk for cardiovascular (CV) disease and peripheral arterial disease (PAD), according to a study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine. (The study was published online in September and will appear in this week’s print edition of Archives.)

Anoop Shankar and colleagues measured serum levels of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) in 1216 people participating in the National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey (NHANES) and found a strong correlation between PAD and CV disease and PFOA levels. After adjustment for other risk factors, people in the highest quartile of PFOA levels had about double the risk for CV disease and PAD:

Odds ratio for the top quartile of PFOA: CV disease 2.01 (1.12-3.60), PAD 2.78 (1.03-3.08), CVD or PAD 2.28 (1.40-3.71)

The authors cite several studies that support the plausibility of a harmful effect of PFOA. They duly note the risk of “residual confounding and reverse causality,” but write that if their findings are replicated “the population-attributable risk of PFOA exposure on CVD risk could potentially be high.”

In an invited commentary, Debabrata Mukherjee acknowledges the limitations of the study but writes that, given the biological plausibility in the relationship, “it would make sense to limit or to eliminate the use of PFOA and its congeners in industry through legislation and regulation while improving water purification and treatment techniques to try and remove this potentially toxic chemical from our water supply.” But, he warns concerns about PFOA “should not dissuade us from aggressively managing known existing risk factors for CVD such as dyslipidemia, smoking, hypertension, diabetes, obesity, and lack of regular physical activity.”

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October 9th, 2012