Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are a public health concern given evidence that they persist and accumulate in the environment and can cause toxic effects in animals and humans. However, evaluating adverse effects of PCBs in epidemiologic studies is complicated by the characteristics of PCB exposure. PCBs exist as mixtures in the environment; the mixture changes over time due to degradation, and given physicochemical differences between specific PCB congeners, the mixture that an individual is exposed to (via food, air, or other sources) is likely different from that which can be measured in biological tissues. This is particularly problematic when evaluating toxicity of shorter-lived congeners that may not be measurable by the time biological samples are collected. We review these and other issues that arise when evaluating epidemiologic studies of PCBs and discuss how epidemiology data can still be used to inform both hazard identification and dose-response evaluation.

多氯联苯 (PCB) 是一个公共卫生问题，因为有证据表明它们在环境中持续存在并积累，并可能对动物和人类造成毒性影响。然而，由于 PCB 暴露的特点，在流行病学研究中评估 PCB 的不利影响变得复杂。多氯联苯作为混合物存在于环境中；由于降解，混合物会随着时间的推移而变化，并且鉴于特定 PCB 同系物之间的物理化学差异，个人暴露于（通过食物、空气或其他来源）的混合物可能与在生物组织中可测量的混合物不同。当评估在收集生物样本时可能无法测量的寿命较短的同源物的毒性时，这尤其成问题。