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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Environmental Health and Exposome
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1545164
Association of ethylene oxide exposure with serum neurofilament light chain levels among American adults
Provisionally accepted- 1 Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China
- 2 Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong Region, China
Objective: To explore the relationship between Ethylene oxide (EO) expousure and serum neurofilament light chain (NfL).Method: A data of 559 adults from the 2013-2014 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) was analysed, and the relationship between log-transformed EO hemoglobin adducts (HbEO) and serum NfL levels was assessed using multiple linear regression models and restricted cubic spline functions. Stratified analysis was conducted to explore the correlations within different subgroups. Mediation analysis was employed to investigate potential mediating factors. Results: The higher HbEO levels were consistently associated with elevated serum NfL concentrations among the study participants (β = 0.07, 95%CI: 0.00-0.14; P = 0.044), and serum NfL levels increased with rising HbEO levels (P for trend = 0.013). The restricted cubic spline results confirmed the linear relationship between serum NfL and HbEO. Subgroup analysis indicated a significant positive correlation, particularly among non-Hispanic white people, individuals aged 40-59, and heavy drinkers. Conclusion: These findings highlighted the neurotoxic potential of EO and underscored the importance of monitoring EO exposure to mitigate its adverse health effects.
Keywords: NHANES, Ethylene Oxide, neurofilament light chain, Neurotoxicity, adults
Received: 13 Jan 2025; Accepted: 26 Feb 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Yang, Feng, You, Liu, Sun, Chen and Qiu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Chengzhi Chen, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China
Jingfu Qiu, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China
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