Background: Benzene, Toluene, Ethylbenzene, and Xylenes (BTEXs) are a group of aromatic air pollutants from fossil fuels. There is no research on associations of the BTEXs mixture with telomere length (TL), a marker of cellular aging, in the general population.
Methods: We analyzed a subsample of 549 US adults aged 20-59 years from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999-2000. BTEXs samples were collected by passive exposure badges worn by participants for 48-72 h. Levels of BTEXs were measured with gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. Leukocyte TL was measured with qPCR. We used Bayesian Kernel Machine Regression (BKMR) to examine the effect of the BTEXs mixture on TL adjusting for potential confounders. Analyses were stratified by tobacco smoking status (serum cotinine≥10 ng/mL vs. <10 ng/mL).
Results: Levels of personal exposure to BTEXs were detectable in most participants and were relatively higher in the 150 smokers than in the 399 nonsmokers. The BTEXs were moderately or strongly intercorrelated (0.5 < r ≤ 0.9, P < 0.05). All chemicals had weak, inverse correlations with TL (-0.1<r < 0, P > 0.05). In BKMR models among the nonsmokers, the BTEXs mixture was significantly inversely associated with TL at a low range of the BTEXs (20th-65th percentile) but was not associated with TL at a higher range (>65th percentile). Also, we found a U-shape association of benzene and a positive association of ethylbenzene with TL independent of other BTEXs. Among smokers, neither the BTEXs mixture nor any individual BTEXs were significantly associated with TL.
Conclusion: Within a low-to-middle range, exposure to the BTEXs mixture may be associated with shorter telomere length in the general nonsmoking population.
Keywords: BKMR; BTEXs; Mixture; NHANES; Telomere.
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