Organochlorine Exposure and Incidence of Diabetes in a Cohort of Great Lakes Sport Fish Consumers

Abstract

BackgroundStudies have demonstrated ubiquitous human exposure to persistent organic pollutants (POPs) such as p,p′-diphenyldichloroethene (DDE) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Although there is considerable evidence that POP exposures are associated with prevalent diabetes, these studies do not establish causality because the cross-sectional study design does not allow for assessment of temporality of the exposure–disease association. Prospective studies, however, have been lacking.ObjectivesThis study was designed to determine whether POP body burdens are related to incidence of diabetes in a cohort of Great Lakes sport fish consumers.MethodsThe cohort was established in the early 1990s and followed through 2005. We tested serum for DDE and PCB congeners and assessed diabetes diagnosis, demographics, and fish consumption. Associations of diabetes with exposures were examined prospectively in participants without diabetes in 1994–1995, followed through 2005. Annual percent changes in DDE and PCB-132/153 from 1994 to 2005 were examined by diabetes status.ResultsDDE exposure was associated with incident diabetes. Incident diabetes was not associated with mono-ortho PCB-118, total PCBs, or years of sport fish consumption. Annual percent change in DDE and PCB-132/153 did not differ significantly by diabetes status.ConclusionsThis study demonstrates an association between DDE exposure and incident diabetes. The findings of an association of DDE with incident diabetes and the lack of effect of diabetes on annual percent change in POPs do not support the hypothesis that associations of POPs with diabetes are attributable to reverse causality. Additional studies should address the biological pathways by which DDE could affect glucose homeostasis.

Exposure to DDT metabolitep,p′-DDE increases autoimmune type 1 diabetes incidence in NOD mouse model

“…Retrospective epidemiological analysis showed that increased levels of DDE in the human sera were positively correlated with increased insulin resistance (Lee et al, 2007) and prevalence of T2D (Lee et al, 2006). In addition, studies of a Swedish cohort (Rignell-Hydbom et al, 2007), the Great Lake fish consumers (Turyk et al, 2009), as well as recent analysis of 72 epidemiological studies (Taylor et al, 2013) and meta-analysis of 23 epidemiological studies (Tang et al, 2014), found a strong association between DDE exposure and increased incidence of T2D. However, it should be noted that these data were insufficient to establish causality.…”

Organochlorine Pesticides in Human Serum

“…The associations between the serum concentrations of organochlorine pesticides and the prevalence of diabetes were examined in the Mexican-American population (Cox et al, 2007) and Korean population (Son et al, 2010). Exposure of p,p'-DDE was related to the incidence of diabetes in a cohort of Great Lakes sport fish consumers from 1994 to 2005 (Turyk et al, 2009). Lee et al (2010) also investigated whether several persistent organic pollutants predict the risk of type 2 diabetes within the Coronary Artery Risk D e v e l o p m e n t i n Y o u n g A d u l t s ( C A R D I A ) c o h o r t ( L e e e t a l .…”

Obesity and type 2 diabetes in Northern Canada's remote First Nations communities: the dietary dilemma

“…Consequently, it is not unlikely that POPs, which mainly accumulate in fat tissues, contribute to the production and release of inflammation-related adipose tissue proteins known to be involved in the development of chronic metabolic disorders such as T2DM. A number of studies have found associations between T2DM and POPs, such as polychlorinated biphenyls, [74][75][76][77][78] polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins [75][76][77]79 and organochlorine pesticides, [74][75]77,[80][81][82] which are usually detectable at low levels in humans. The previous observations arise from crosssectional studies, making it difficult to establish a causeeffect relationship.…”

“…[81][82][83] Among women from the general Swedish population, RignellHydbom et al 83 showed that women with the highest exposed quartile for p,p 0 -dichlorodiphenyldichloroethane had a fivefold increased risk of developing T2DM compared with their controls, 6 years after the baseline examination. Furthermore, using the cohort of the Great Lakes sport fish consumers, Turyk et al 81,82 showed that plasma concentrations of p,p 0 -dichlorodiphenyldichloroethane and the sum of polychlorinated biphenyls were higher in participants who subsequently developed diabetes. Even though direct experimental evidence linking POPs with the prevalence of obesity and T2DM has not yet been demonstrated, this association raises public health concerns, particularly in northern aboriginal communities that are likely more exposed to these substances owing to their geographical location and traditional dietary habits.…”