Multivariate optimization of analytical methodology and a first attempt to an environmental risk assessment of β-blockers in hospital wastewater

Abstract

O presente estudo avalia, preliminarmente, o risco da exposição ambiental a β-bloqueadores em efluente de um hospital universitário (Hospital Universitário de Santa Maria (HUSM), Rio Grande do Sul). Propranolol mostrou o maior quociente de risco (0,56). A ocorrência de β-bloqueadores foi avaliada com auxílio de metodologia de SPE-HPLC-FLD (extração por fase sólida-cromatografia líquida de alta eficiência com detecção por fluorescência) otimizando-se multivariadamente as variáveis pH da amostra, pH da água e a razão entre metanol:acetonitrila:ácido fórmico. As concentrações médias de atenolol, metoprolol e propranolol medidas durante o período de uma semana foram de 2,45 ± 1,14, 4,67 ± 1,63 e 0,70 ± 0,88 μg L -1 no efluente do pronto atendimento, 0,95 ± 0,68, 0,70 ± 0,33 e 0,315 ± 0,62 μg L -1 no efluente geral do hospital e 1,26 ± 0,47, 1,27 ± 0,35 e 0,56 ± 0,47 μg L -1 no córrego receptor, respectivamente. Propranolol mostrou razão MEC/PNEC > 1 (MEC: concentração ambiental mensurada e PNEC: concentração predita que não causa efeito), exigindo maior atenção em termos de toxicidade. A ocorrência de β-bloqueadores e o risco ambiental associado demonstram a necessidade de um sistema mais eficiente de tratamento do efluente hospitalar.This preliminary study evaluated an assessment of the risks arising from environmental exposure to β-blockers from wastewater of an university hospital (University Hospital of Santa Maria (HUSM), Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil). Propranolol showed the highest risk quotient (0.56). The occurrence of β-blockers was evaluated using an analytical procedure SPE-HPLC-FLD (solid phase extraction-high performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection), optimizing the variables sample pH, water pH, and methanol:acetonitrile:formic acid ratio of the elution stage. The average concentrations of atenolol, metoprolol and propranolol for a sampling period of one week were 2.45 ± 1.14, 4.67 ± 1.63 and 0.70 ± 0.88 μg L -1 in the 'Emergence' sewage; 0.95 ± 0.68, 0.70 ± 0.33 and 0.315 ± 0.62 μg L -1 in the 'HUSM general' sewage and 1.26 ± 0.47, 1.27 ± 0.35 and 0.56 ± 0.47 μg L -1 in the 'Receiving waters', the receptor stream of the effluents, respectively. Propranolol showed an MEC/PNEC ratio > 1, and thus requires more attention in terms of toxicity. The occurrence of β-blockers and the associated environmental risks demonstrate the need of a more efficient treatment system for the hospital wastewater.

Occurrence, ecotoxicological effects and risk assessment of antihypertensive pharmaceutical residues in the aquatic environment - A review

“…In hospital effluents, valsartan again reached the highest concentrations reported relatively to antihypertensives, of up to 19.8 lg L À1 in effluents from a university hospital in Portugal (Santos et al, 2013). The following antihypertensives detected in the highest concentrations in those matrices were metoprolol, with levels of up to 9.9 lg L À1 detected in hospital effluents in Brazil (Wilde et al, 2012); atenolol, with levels of up to 8.0 lg L À1 in effluents from hospitals in Portugal (Santos et al, 2013) and sotalol, detected in concentrations of up to 6.7 lg L À1 in effluents from hospitals in Italy (Verlicchi et al, 2012).…”

Screening for Selected Human Pharmaceuticals and Cocaine in the Urban Streams of Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil

“…β ‐blocker use in Europe is variable between countries but published data suggest that it is in the range of between 0.1 and 3.2 g/person/yr (Alder et al ., ), however, no data are available for Brazil. Attempts to assess the risk of MET and PROP from a Brazilian hospital estimate receiving water predicted environmental concentrations of 13 and 41 ng/l, respectively, while mean measured concentrations were much higher at 1,300 and 560 ng/l, respectively (Wilde et al ., ). Even though MET was present in all of the urban stream samples, the concentrations when compared to previous studies in other geographic areas indicate low level use in Manaus.…”

Response Surface Methodology: A Review of Applications to Risk Assessment

“…This methodology has been used successfully in the treatment of risk, in areas such as radioactive waste disposal [19], environmental aspects [23,24,47], geological aspects [30,32,33,38], structural problems of reliability [3, 7, 11, 13, 16, 17, 22, 28, 35-37, 39, 42-45], etc. The stochastic form of methodology with expansion in polynomial chaos is widely used.…”