The Association Between Serum Polychlorinated Biphenyls and Incident Cardiovascular Disease Among Type 2 Diabetes

Background Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD) in the general population. However, it is unclear whether PCB exposure increases the additional risk of CVD among type 2 diabetes (T2D) cases. This study aims to investigate the associations between serum concentrations of PCBs and incident CVD among T2D cases.Methods The study population was derived from the Dongfeng-Tongji cohort in 2008 and followed up until December 31, 2018, with a total of 2806 participants with T2D included; 1180 of them developed CVD during the follow-up. Cox proportional hazard regression models and quantile g-computation method were conducted for the associations of serum PCB levels with incident CVD risk.Results Compared with the first quartile, the risk of incident CVD was increased by 25%, 30%, and 28% in the fourth quartile of serum concentrations of PCB28, PCB52, and PCB101, respectively. Similar results were obtained for lower-chlorinated PCBs (PCB28 + PCB52 + PCB101) with a hazard ratio (95% confidence interval) of 1.257 (1.063, 1.486) and 1.346 (1.139, 1.589) in the third and fourth quartiles, respectively (P trend = .001). Quantile g-computation indicated that mixed exposure to PCBs increased the risk of CVD, and the top 3 weights of PCB congeners were PCB101, PCB52, and PCB28.Conclusion Serum PCB independently increased the risk of incident CVD among T2D cases, in which lower-chlorinated PCBs played a dominant role.