Most of the organohalogenated contaminants (OHCs) have high environmental stability and are lipophilic in nature, thus bioaccumulate through the various routes e.g., inhalation, dermal contact and food intake. Human exposure to these OHCs can induce adverse health effects. Studies on the occurrence of OHCs in human samples from Saudi Arabia are scarce. Therefore, this study aimed at providing preliminary insight on the occurrence of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) and polybrominated biphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in diabetic and non-diabetic donors from KSA. Serum samples were collected from type 2 diabetic patients (n = 40) and control donors (n = 20) to study the impact of OHCs on their health. For the first time we studied the difference of ƩOHCs in type 2 diabetic and control participants. The order of obtained results was ƩOCPs (35-650 ng/g lw)> ƩPCBs (15-90 ng/g lw)> ƩPBDEs (1.5-68 ng/g lw). The major contributors were p,p'-DDE (median 44 ng/g lw), PCB 153 (2.3 ng/g lw), PCB 138 (2.1 ng/g lw), BDE 153 (1.2 ng/g lw) and BDE 47 (0.85 ng/g lw). Exposure to different OHCs between male and female donors was not significantly different (p > 0.05). However, ƩPCBs and ƩOHCs were significantly higher (p < 0.05) in diabetic donors than those of control group. We computed significantly positive correlations (p < 0.05) among different OHCs and between OHCs and age factor. The current study highlights the presence of different OHCs in humans from Jeddah, KSA. This is a preliminary study based on small sample size but our results suggested that detailed studies are required to understand the sources of these pollutants and their impact on human health.
Keywords: Human serum; Organohalogenated contaminants (OHCs); Saudi Arabia; Type 2 diabetes mellitus.
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