Exposure to disinfection by-products in swimming pools and biomarkers of genotoxicity and respiratory damage - The PISCINA2 Study.
File(s)Vineis.Exposure to disinfection by-products.pdf (680.82 KB)
Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Swimming in pools is a healthy activity that entails exposure to disinfection by-products (DBPs), some of which are irritant and genotoxic. OBJECTIVES: We evaluated exposure to DBPs during swimming in a chlorinated pool and the association with short-term changes in genotoxicity and lung epithelium permeability biomarkers. METHODS: Non-smoker adults (N = 116) swimming 40 min in an indoor pool were included. We measured a range of biomarkers before and at different times after swimming: trihalomethanes (THMs) in exhaled breath (5 min), trichloroacetic acid (TCAA) in urine (30 min), micronuclei in lymphocytes (1 h), serum club cell protein (CC16) (1 h), urine mutagenicity (2 h) and micronuclei in reticulocytes (4 days in a subset, N = 19). Several DBPs in water and trichloramine in air were measured, and physical activity was extensively assessed. We estimated interactions with polymorphisms in genes related to DBP metabolism. RESULTS: Median level of chloroform, brominated and total THMs in water was 37.3, 9.5 and 48.5, μg/L, respectively, and trichloramine in air was 472.6 μg/m3. Median exhaled chloroform, brominated and total THMs increased after swimming by 10.9, 2.6 and 13.4, μg/m3, respectively. Creatinine-adjusted urinary TCAA increased by 3.1 μmol/mol. Micronuclei in lymphocytes and reticulocytes, urine mutagenicity and serum CC16 levels remained unchanged after swimming. Spearman correlation coefficients showed no association between DBP exposure and micronuclei in lymphocytes, urine mutagenicity and CC16. Moderate associations were observed for micronuclei in reticulocytes and DBP exposure. CONCLUSIONS: The unchanged levels of the short-term effect biomarkers after swimming and null associations with personal estimates of exposure to DBPs suggest no measurable effect on genotoxicity in lymphocytes, urine mutagenicity and lung epithelium permeability at the observed exposure levels. The moderate associations with micronuclei in reticulocytes require cautious interpretation given the reduced sample size.
Date Issued
2019-07-16
Date Acceptance
2019-06-30
ISSN
0160-4120
Publisher
Elsevier
Start Page
1
End Page
11
Journal / Book Title
Environment International
Volume
131
Copyright Statement
© 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/BY-NC-ND/4.0/).
Sponsor
Commission of the European Communities
Identifier
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412019304659?via%3Dihub
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31323486
S0160-4120(19)30465-9
Grant Number
308610
Subjects
Biomarkers
CC16
Disinfection by-products
Exposure
Genotoxicity
Swimming pools
Biomarkers
CC16
Disinfection by-products
Exposure
Genotoxicity
Swimming pools
MD Multidisciplinary
Environmental Sciences
Publication Status
Published online
Coverage Spatial
Netherlands
Date Publish Online
2019-07-16