Human Exposure to Per-and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS): A Clinical Medical Anthropology Study of Bone Mineral Content

Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) represent a group of chemicals that are widely used in consumer and industrial products resulting in their accumulation in the ecosystem. Consequently, ingestion of these chemicals negatively impacts human health. This study utilizes a stepwise linear regression analysis of publicly available demographic, dual energy x-ray absorptiometry of the femur, and serum specimen data from the 20172018 NHANES database (cdc.gov) to examine the relationship between bone mineral content and the presence of PFAS chemicals in humans. The analysis indicates a strong relationship, influenced by socioeconomic background, between femoral bone mineral content and exposure to PFAS.