BACKGROUND The burden of cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity and mortality is higher among Indigenous persons, who also experience greater health disparities when compared to non-Indigenous Canadians, particularly in remote regions of Canada. Assessment of carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT), a noninvasive screening tool and can be used as biomarker to assess increased CVD risk. Few studies have examined environmental contaminant body burden and its association with cIMT. METHODS Data from the Environment-and-Health Study in the Eeyou Istchee territory of northern Québec, Canada was used to assess complex body burden mixtures of POPs, metals and metalloids among (n = 535) Indigenous people between 15 and 87 years of age with cIMT. First, Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was used to reduce the complexity of the contaminant data. Second, based on the underlying PCA profiles from the biological data, we examined each of the prominent principal component (PC) axes on cIMT using multivariable linear regression models. Lastly, based on these PC axes, cIMT was also regressed on summed (Σ) organic compound concentrations, polychlorinated biphenyl, perfluorinated compounds, respectively, ∑10 OCs, ∑13 PCBs, ∑3PFCs, and nickel. RESULTS Most organochlorines and PFCs loaded primarily on PC-1 (53% variation). Nickel, selenium, and cadmium were found to load on PC-5. Carotid-IMT was significantly associated with PC-1 β = 0.004 (95 % CI 0.001, 0.007), and PC-5 β = 0.013 (95 % CI 0.002, 0.023). However, the association appears to be greater for PC-5, accounting for 3% of the variation, and mostly represented by nickel. Results show that that both nickel, and ∑3PFCs were similarly associated with cIMT β = 0.001 (95 % CI 0.0003, 0.003), and β = 0.001 (95 % CI 0.0004, 0.002), respectively. But ∑10OCs was significantly associated with a slightly greater β = 0.004 (95 % CI 0.001, 0.007) cIMT change, though with less precision. Lastly, ∑13PCBs also increased β = 0.002 (95 % CI 0.0004, 0.003) cIMT after fully adjusting for covariates. CONCLUSION Our results suggest that environmental contaminants are associated with cIMT. This is important for the Cree from the Eeyou Istchee territory who may experience higher body burdens of contaminants than non-Indigenous Canadians.

中文翻译：

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复杂的污染物混合物及其与内膜中层厚度的关联。


背景技术原住民的心血管疾病（CVD）发病率和死亡率负担较高，与非原住民加拿大人相比，他们的健康差距也更大，特别是在加拿大偏远地区。颈动脉内膜中层厚度 (cIMT) 评估是一种无创筛查工具，可用作评估 CVD 风险增加的生物标志物。很少有研究探讨环境污染物的身体负担及其与 cIMT 的关联。方法 使用加拿大魁北克省北部 Eeyou Istchee 地区环境与健康研究的数据来评估 15 至 87 岁之间的原住民 (n = 535) 中持久性有机污染物、金属和类金属的复杂身体负担混合物。 cIMT。首先，使用主成分分析（PCA）来降低污染物数据的复杂性。其次，根据生物数据中的基本 PCA 图谱，我们使用多元线性回归模型检查了 cIMT 上的每个重要主成分 (PC) 轴。最后，基于这些 PC 轴，cIMT 还分别对有机化合物浓度总和 (Σ)、多氯联苯、全氟化合物、Σ10 OC、Σ13 PCB、Σ3PFC 和镍进行回归。结果 大多数有机氯和 PFC 主要负载在 PC-1 上（变化 53%）。 PC-5 上被发现含有镍、硒和镉。颈动脉 IMT 与 PC-1 β = 0.004 (95% CI 0.001, 0.007) 和 PC-5 β = 0.013 (95% CI 0.002, 0.023) 显着相关。然而，PC-5 的关联似乎更大，占变异的 3%，并且主要以镍为代表。结果显示，镍和 Σ3PFC 均与 cIMT β = 0.001 (95 % CI 0.0003, 0.003) 和 β = 0.001 (95 % CI 0.0004, 0.003) 相关。002），分别。但 Σ10OCs 与稍大的 β = 0.004 (95 % CI 0.001, 0.007) cIMT 变化显着相关，但精度较低。最后，在完全调整协变量后，Σ13PCB 还增加了 β = 0.002 (95 % CI 0.0004, 0.003) cIMT。结论 我们的结果表明环境污染物与 cIMT 相关。这对于来自 Eeyou Istchee 地区的克里人来说非常重要，他们可能比非原住民加拿大人承受更高的身体污染物负担。