Analysis of urinary metabolites of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and cotinine in pooled urine samples to determine the exposure to PAHs in an Australian population.

Our previous biomonitoring study of hydroxylated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (OH-PAHs) in a population in Australia found high levels of 1-naphthol, a metabolite of both naphthalene and carbaryl, in some adult samples. Here, we conducted a follow-up study to collect and analyse pooled urine samples, stratified by age and sex, from 2014 to 2017 using a GC-MS method. Geometric mean concentrations of 1-hydroxypyrene, the most common biomarker of PAH exposure, were 100 and 120 ng/L urine in 2014–2015 and 2016–2017, respectively. The concentrations of most OH-PAHs in this study except 1-naphthol are in line with those reported by biomonitoring programs in the US and Canada. In general, concentrations of OH-PAHs are lower in samples from small children (0–4 years) and school-aged children (5–14 years) compared with samples from the older age groups, except for some cases in the recent monitoring period. The concentrations of 1-naphthol in some adult samples of both sexes are very high, which is consistent with our previous findings. Such high concentrations of 1-naphthol together with the high 1-naphthol/2-naphthol ratio suggest potential exposure to the insecticide carbaryl in this population but other exposure sources and different rates of naphthalene metabolism should also be investigated.