Serum vaccine antibody concentrations in adults exposed to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances: A birth cohort in the Faroe Islands

Figures & data

Figure 1. Vaccination and blood sampling schedule.

Table 1. Characteristics of participants included in analysis of hepatitis type A and B, diphtheria, and tetanus with PFAS concentrations at age 28 years.

	Hepatitis type A and B analyses				Diphtheria and tetanus analyses
Characteristics	Total cohort (n = 399)	Male (n = 220, 55.1%)	Female (n = 179; 44.9%)	p-Value^a	Total cohort (n = 281)	Male (n = 133, 47.3%)	Female (n = 148, 52.7%)	p-Value^a
BMI, n (%) (kg/m^2)				0.47				0.05
<18	1 (0.3)	0 (0.0)	1 (0.6)		2 (0.7)	0 (0.0)	2 (1.4)
18–25	182 (45.6)	98 (44.5)	84 (46.9)		135 (48.0)	56 (42.1)	79 (53.4)
≥25	216 (54.1)	122 (55.5)	94 (52.5)		144 (51.2)	77 (57.9)	67 (45.3)
Smoking status, n (%)				0.14				0.38
Current	206 (51.6)	105 (47.7)	101 (56.4)		140 (49.8)	72 (54.1)	68 (45.9)
Ever	52 (13.0)	29 (13.2)	23 (12.8)		37 (13.2)	15 (11.3)	22 (14.9)
Never	139 (34.8)	86 (39.1)	53 (29.6)		103 (36.7)	46 (34.6)	57 (38.5)
Missing	2 (0.5)	0 (0.0)	2 (1.1)		1 (0.4)	0 (0.0)	1 (0.7)
Antibody concentrations, median (IQR)
Baseline anti-diphtheria (IU/ mL)	–	–	–		0.01 (0.05)	0.01 (0.05)	0.01 (0.05)	0.23
Follow-up anti-diphtheria (IU/ mL)	–	–	–		1.10 (2.92)	1.60 (3.93)	0.57 (2.10)	<0.001
Baseline anti-tetanus (IU/ mL)	–	–	–		0.12 (0.52)	0.12 (0.55)	0.13 (0.52)	0.61
Follow-up anti-tetanus (IU/ mL)	–	–	–		6.60 (12.80)	7.50 (13.8)	5.65 (8.10)	0.03
Follow-up anti-HAV (S/CO)	6.11 (4.00)	5.61 (3.78)	6.85 (3.73)	0.002	–	–	–
Follow-up anti-HBs (mIU/mL)	56.5 (143.60)	66.76 (159.48)	44.28 (113.96)	0.006	–	–	–

^aChi-square test for BMI and smoking status and Wilcoxon rank-sum test for antibody and PFAS concentrations.

^bIQR: interquartile range; S/CO: signal-to-cutoff ratio; PFAS: per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance; PFOS: perfluorooctane sulfonate; PFOA: perflourooctanoate; PFHxS: perfluorohexanesulfonic acid; PFNA: perfluorononanoate; PFDA: perfluorodecanoate.

Figure 2. Unit change of serum anti-HAV concentrations (S/CO) at age 28 years per doubling of the cord-blood PFAS concentrations and serum PFAS concentrations at ages 7, 14, 22, and 28 years, overall and by sex.

Figure 3. Percent change of serum anti-HBs concentrations at age 28 years per doubling of the cord-blood PFAS concentrations and serum PFAS concentrations at ages 7, 14, 22, and 28 years, overall and by sex.