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[背景]在一些建筑物内,多氯联苯(PCBs)的室内空气浓度要比背景值高出一个甚至更多的数量级。为此,人们试图评估吸入PCBs所造成的潜在健康风险。但是由于来源、暴露和暴露-反应的特征描述以及评估中存在着不确定性,这些尝试受到了阻碍。[目的]简要介绍室内空气中PCBs的一些常见来源,并估计特定年龄组的吸入暴露对总PCBs暴露的贡献量。随后,确定需要进行重点研究的领域,以提高对PCBs吸入暴露和暴露反应的评估水平。[讨论]虽然美国在1979年就开始禁止生产PCBs,但在此之前建造的许多建筑中仍含有潜在的污染来源,造成室内空气PCBs污染。在一些室内条件下和一些年龄组中,吸入暴露对PCBs总暴露的贡献可能大于其他任何暴露途径。PCBs暴露与人体健康效应相关,但针对吸入途径的数据仍然很少。为了进行暴露-反应评估,在今后研究PCBs吸入的健康效应时要仔细考虑研究设计的一些方面,包括描述PCBs混合暴露的特征,这一点十分重要。[结论]在某些情况下,PCBs的吸入暴露对PCBs总暴露的贡献量可能比以前认为的更多。新的流行病学和毒理学研究致力于解决PCBs吸入对健康的潜在影响,可能有助于确定暴露-反应关系和进行风险评估。
[Background] In some buildings, the concentration of indoor airborne polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) is one or more orders of magnitudes higher than the background value. To this end, people are trying to assess the potential health risks posed by PCBs inhalation. However, these attempts have been hampered by the characterization of sources, exposure and exposure-response and uncertainty in the assessment. [Objective] To briefly introduce some common sources of PCBs in indoor air and to estimate the contribution of inhalation exposure to total PCBs exposure for a given age group. Subsequently, identify areas for which priority research is needed to improve the assessment of PCB exposure to inhalation and exposure. [DISCUSSION] Although the United States began banning the production of PCBs in 1979, many buildings built before this still contained potential sources of pollution, causing pollution of indoor airborne PCBs. Under some indoor conditions and in some age groups, inhalation exposure may contribute more to total PCB exposure than any other exposure route. PCBs exposure is associated with human health effects, but data on the inhalation route are still low. In order to conduct an exposure-response assessment, it is important to consider some aspects of the study design in future studies of the health effects of PCBs inhalation, including a description of the mixed exposure characteristics of PCBs. [Conclusions] In some cases, PCBs inhalation exposure may contribute more to total PCBs exposure than previously thought. New epidemiological and toxicological studies that address the potential health effects of PCBs inhalation may help define exposure-response relationships and conduct risk assessments.