Analysis of untreated municipal wastewater is recognized as an innovative approach to assess population exposure to or consumption of various substances. Currently, there are no published wastewater-based studies investigating the relationships between catchment social, demographic, and economic characteristics with chemicals using advanced non-targeted techniques. In this study, fifteen wastewater samples covering 27% of the Australian population were collected during a population Census. The samples were analysed with a workflow employing liquid chromatography high-resolution mass spectrometry and chemometric tools for non-target analysis. Socioeconomic characteristics of catchment areas were generated using Geospatial Information Systems software. Potential correlations were explored between pseudo-mass loads of the identified compounds and socioeconomic and demographic descriptors of the wastewater catchments derived from Census data. Markers of public health (e.g., cardiac arrhythmia, cardiovascular disease, anxiety disorder and type 2 diabetes) were identified in the wastewater samples by the proposed workflow. They were positively correlated with descriptors of disadvantage in education, occupation, marital status and income, and negatively correlated with descriptors of advantage in education and occupation. In addition, markers of polypropylene glycol (PPG) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) related compounds were positively correlated with housing and occupation disadvantage. High positive correlations were found between separated and divorced people and specific drugs used to treat cardiac arrhythmia, cardiovascular disease, and depression. Our robust non-targeted methodology in combination with Census data can identify relationships between biomarkers of public health, human behaviour and lifestyle and socio-demographics of whole populations. Furthermore, it can identify specific areas and socioeconomic groups that may need more assistance than others for public health issues. This approach complements important public health information and enables large-scale national coverage with a relatively small number of samples.

对未经处理的城市废水的分析被认为是一种评估人群接触或消耗各种物质的创新方法。目前，没有发表的基于废水的研究调查集水区社会、人口和经济特征与使用先进非靶向技术的化学品之间的关系。在这项研究中，在人口普查期间收集了 15 个废水样本，覆盖了 27% 的澳大利亚人口。使用液相色谱高分辨率质谱和化学计量工具进行非目标分析的工作流程对样品进行分析。集水区的社会经济特征是使用地理空间信息系统软件生成的。探索了已识别化合物的假质量负荷与来自人口普查数据的废水集水区的社会经济和人口描述之间的潜在相关性。通过提议的工作流程，在废水样本中确定了公共卫生标志物（例如，心律失常、心血管疾病、焦虑症和 2 型糖尿病）。它们与教育、职业、婚姻状况和收入的劣势描述呈正相关，与教育和职业优势的描述呈负相关。此外，聚丙二醇（PPG）和聚乙二醇（PEG）相关化合物的标志物与住房和职业劣势呈正相关。在分居和离婚的人与用于治疗心律失常、心血管疾病和抑郁症的特定药物之间发现了高度正相关。我们强大的非靶向方法与人口普查数据相结合，可以确定公共卫生生物标志物、人类行为和生活方式以及整个人群的社会人口统计学之间的关系。此外，它可以确定在公共卫生问题上可能比其他人需要更多援助的特定领域和社会经济群体。这种方法补充了重要的公共卫生信息，并以相对较少的样本实现了大规模的全国覆盖。人类行为和生活方式以及整个人口的社会人口统计。此外，它可以确定在公共卫生问题上可能比其他人需要更多援助的特定领域和社会经济群体。这种方法补充了重要的公共卫生信息，并以相对较少的样本实现了大规模的全国覆盖。人类行为和生活方式以及整个人口的社会人口统计。此外，它可以确定在公共卫生问题上可能比其他人需要更多援助的特定领域和社会经济群体。这种方法补充了重要的公共卫生信息，并以相对较少的样本实现了大规模的全国覆盖。