Faculty of Technical Sciences

TY - JOUR

T1 - Interlaboratory Comparison Investigations (ICIs) and External Quality Assurance Schemes (EQUASs) for human biomonitoring of perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) in serum as part of the quality assurance programme under HBM4EU

AU - Nübler, Stefanie

AU - Esteban López, Marta

AU - Castaño, Argelia

AU - Mol, Hans G.J.

AU - Haji-Abbas-Zarrabi, Karin

AU - Schäfer, Moritz

AU - Müller, Johannes

AU - Hajslova, Jana

AU - Dvorakova, Darina

AU - Antignac, Jean Philippe

AU - Koch, Holger M.

AU - Haug, Line Småstuen

AU - Vorkamp, Katrin

AU - Göen, Thomas

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2022 Elsevier B.V.

PY - 2022/11

Y1 - 2022/11

N2 - Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are of very high concern due to their persistence and accumulative behaviour as well as their manifold adverse health effects. Human biomonitoring (HBM) based on the determination of PFASs in serum samples is an adequate and established strategy for exposure and risk assessment of the population. The suspected health risks associated with exposure levels in the general population call for reliable HBM data verified by Quality Assurance and Quality Control (QA/QC) measures. PFASs were among the chemicals selected as priority substances in HBM4EU, a pan-European project to harmonize and advance HBM within 30 European countries. For this purpose, the analytical comparability and accuracy of PFASs-analysing laboratories was assessed in a QA/QC programme comprising Interlaboratory Comparison Investigations (ICIs) and External Quality Assurance Schemes (EQUASs). This paper presents the evaluation process and discusses the results of four ICI/EQUAS rounds for the determination of eight perfluoroalkyl carboxylic acids and four perfluoroalkyl sulfonic acids (PFBS, PFHxS, PFHpS, PFOS) in serum. All 21 participating laboratories achieved satisfactory results for at least six of these biomarkers, although low limits of quantification (of about 0.1 μg/L) were required to quantify serum PFAS levels at general population exposure levels. The mean relative standard deviation of the participants' results (study RSDR) significantly improved from 22 % to 13 % over all PFAS biomarkers in the course of the four rounds. This QA/QC programme succeeded in establishing a network of laboratories with high analytical comparability and accuracy for the analysis of PFASs across 12 European countries.

AB - Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are of very high concern due to their persistence and accumulative behaviour as well as their manifold adverse health effects. Human biomonitoring (HBM) based on the determination of PFASs in serum samples is an adequate and established strategy for exposure and risk assessment of the population. The suspected health risks associated with exposure levels in the general population call for reliable HBM data verified by Quality Assurance and Quality Control (QA/QC) measures. PFASs were among the chemicals selected as priority substances in HBM4EU, a pan-European project to harmonize and advance HBM within 30 European countries. For this purpose, the analytical comparability and accuracy of PFASs-analysing laboratories was assessed in a QA/QC programme comprising Interlaboratory Comparison Investigations (ICIs) and External Quality Assurance Schemes (EQUASs). This paper presents the evaluation process and discusses the results of four ICI/EQUAS rounds for the determination of eight perfluoroalkyl carboxylic acids and four perfluoroalkyl sulfonic acids (PFBS, PFHxS, PFHpS, PFOS) in serum. All 21 participating laboratories achieved satisfactory results for at least six of these biomarkers, although low limits of quantification (of about 0.1 μg/L) were required to quantify serum PFAS levels at general population exposure levels. The mean relative standard deviation of the participants' results (study RSDR) significantly improved from 22 % to 13 % over all PFAS biomarkers in the course of the four rounds. This QA/QC programme succeeded in establishing a network of laboratories with high analytical comparability and accuracy for the analysis of PFASs across 12 European countries.

KW - Analytical methods

KW - HBM4EU

KW - Internal exposure

KW - Perfluoroalkyl carboxylic acids

KW - Perfluoroalkyl sulfonic acid

KW - Z-scores

U2 - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.157481

DO - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.157481

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 35868372

AN - SCOPUS:85135102412

VL - 847

JO - Science of the Total Environment

JF - Science of the Total Environment

SN - 0048-9697

M1 - 157481

ER -