Environmental exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances mixture and asthma in adolescents

Previous epidemiological studies about the relationship between per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) concentrations and adolescent asthma have typically examined single PFAS, without considering the mixtures effects of PFAS.

Using data from the 2013–2018 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), 886 adolescents aged 12–19 years were included in this study. We explored the association between PFAS mixture concentrations and adolescent asthma using weighted quantile sum (WQS) regression and Bayesian kernel machine regression (BKMR) models, respectively.

After adjusting for confounders, the results of the WQS regression and BKMR models were consistent, with mixed exposure to the five PFAS not significantly associated with asthma in all adolescents. The association remained nonsignificant in the subgroup analysis by sex.

Our study demonstrated no significant association between mixed exposure to PFAS and adolescent asthma, and more large cohort studies are needed to confirm this in the future.