Perfluoroalkyl substances in the blood samples from a male population of Sweden

Temporal trends of perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) have been determined in the blood samples from several countries globally including a female population in Sweden recently, yet little is known about the time trends in the blood levels of these compounds in Swedish male populations over recent years. In this study, the fourteen target PFASs consisted of four perfluorosulfonates (PFSAs) and ten perfluorocarboxylates (PFCAs) in the whole blood samples, collected from 153 Swedish elderly men during the period between 2008 and 2010, were analyzed via ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS). As the dominant PFASs contaminants in the blood samples, perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) showed the highest geometric mean (GM) at 8.5 ng/mL, ranging from 1.7 to 29 ng/mL, while blood perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) contained the GM of 1.8 ng/mL, ranging from 0.35 to 6.4 ng/mL. Both the levels of these two compounds were lower than those determined in the blood samples of Swedish elderly populations derived from the late 1990s. According to the temporal trend analysis, over the three years, the blood levels of PFOS in Swedish male populations declined 16 % per annum, while those of perfluoroundecanoic acid (PFUnDA) increased 6.1 % per annum, which were consistent with those reported previously for the populations from other countries.