Occupational polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) exposure has been shown to increase the risk of various cancers and may be associated with carcinogenic mortality. However, no study has explored the relationship between environmental PAH exposure and mortality in general population. The aim of our study was to explore the association between PAH exposure and all-cause, cardiovascular, and cancer mortality in a general US adult population. We analyzed data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES 2001–2006) based on the information in this dataset on 692 males and 717 females. PAH exposure was detected using biomarkers from urine samples. Follow-up data on mortality were derived from initial examination of the subjects until death or 31 December 2006 in the NHANES database. We calculated hazard ratios (HRs) of PAH metabolites among all-cause, cardiovascular, and cancer mortality using the multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression model after adjusting for covariates. Among males, 3-phenanthrene was positively associated with increased risk of all-cause mortality (HR 1.043, 95%CI 1.019–1.066). Female participants with higher 2-napthol (HR 1.043, 95%CI 1.014–1.072), 3-fluorene (HR 2.159, 95%CI 1.233–3.779), and 1-phenanthrene (HR = 1.259, 95%CI 1.070–1.481) levels had increased all-cause mortality. In addition, high 3-phenanthrene (HR 1.333, 95%CI 1.008–1.763) and 1-phenanthrene (HR 1.463, 95%CI 1.126–1.900) levels increased the risk of cardiovascular mortality. However, there were no significant findings for cancer mortality in both genders. Environmental PAH exposure among the adult population is associated with non-carcinogenic but not cancer mortality. Future studies are warranted to determine the underlying mechanisms related to these findings.

职业性多环芳烃（PAHs）暴露已显示出增加各种癌症的风险，并且可能与致癌死亡率相关。但是，尚无研究探讨环境PAH暴露与普通人群死亡率之间的关系。我们研究的目的是探讨美国普通成年人中PAH暴露与全因，心血管和癌症死亡率之间的关系。我们根据该数据集中692位男性和717位女性的数据，分析了来自国家健康与营养检查调查（NHANES 2001–2006）的数据。使用尿液样本中的生物标记物检测了PAH暴露。在NHANES数据库中，死亡率的随访数据来自受试者的初步检查直至死亡或2006年12月31日。在校正协变量后，我们使用多元Cox比例风险回归模型计算了全因，心血管和癌症死亡率中PAH代谢物的危险比（HRs）。在男性中，3-菲与全因死亡率增加呈正相关（HR 1.043，95％CI 1.019–1.066）。女性参与者具有较高的2-萘（HR 1.043，95％CI 1.014–1.072），3-芴（HR 2.159，95％CI 1.233–3.779）和1-菲（HR = 1.259，95％CI 1.070–1.481）的水平增加了全因死亡率。此外，高3菲（HR 1.333，95％CI 1.008–1.763）和1-菲（HR 1.463，95％CI 1.126-1.900）增加了心血管死亡的风险。然而，在男女中癌症死亡率均无显着发现。成人人群中PAH的环境暴露与非致癌性相关，但与癌症死亡率无关。有必要进行进一步的研究来确定与这些发现相关的潜在机制。