Interlaboratory Comparison Investigations (ICIs) and External Quality Assurance Schemes (EQUASs) for human biomonitoring of perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) in serum as part of the quality assurance programme under HBM4EU

Nübler S, Esteban López M, Castaño A, Mol HG, Haji-Abbas-Zarrabi K, Schäfer M, Müller J, Hajslova J, Dvorakova D, Antignac JP, Koch HM, Haug LS, Vorkamp K, Göen T (2022)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2022

Journal

Book Volume: 847

Article Number: 157481

DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.157481

Abstract

Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are of very high concern due to their persistence and accumulative behaviour as well as their manifold adverse health effects. Human biomonitoring (HBM) based on the determination of PFASs in serum samples is an adequate and established strategy for exposure and risk assessment of the population. The suspected health risks associated with exposure levels in the general population call for reliable HBM data verified by Quality Assurance and Quality Control (QA/QC) measures. PFASs were among the chemicals selected as priority substances in HBM4EU, a pan-European project to harmonize and advance HBM within 30 European countries. For this purpose, the analytical comparability and accuracy of PFASs-analysing laboratories was assessed in a QA/QC programme comprising Interlaboratory Comparison Investigations (ICIs) and External Quality Assurance Schemes (EQUASs). This paper presents the evaluation process and discusses the results of four ICI/EQUAS rounds for the determination of eight perfluoroalkyl carboxylic acids and four perfluoroalkyl sulfonic acids (PFBS, PFHxS, PFHpS, PFOS) in serum. All 21 participating laboratories achieved satisfactory results for at least six of these biomarkers, although low limits of quantification (of about 0.1 μg/L) were required to quantify serum PFAS levels at general population exposure levels. The mean relative standard deviation of the participants' results (study RSDR) significantly improved from 22 % to 13 % over all PFAS biomarkers in the course of the four rounds. This QA/QC programme succeeded in establishing a network of laboratories with high analytical comparability and accuracy for the analysis of PFASs across 12 European countries.

Authors with CRIS profile

Involved external institutions

Wageningen University & Research Netherlands (NL) Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) Germany (DE) Instituto de Salud Carlos III (Institute of Health Carlos III, ISCIII) Spain (ES) University of Chemistry and Technology (UCT) / Vysoká škola chemicko-technologická (VŠCHT) Czech Republic (CZ) École nationale vétérinaire, agroalimentaire et de l'alimentation de Nantes-Atlantique (ONIRIS) France (FR) Aarhus University Denmark (DK) Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) / Folkehelseinstituttet Norway (NO)

How to cite

APA:

Nübler, S., Esteban López, M., Castaño, A., Mol, H.G., Haji-Abbas-Zarrabi, K., Schäfer, M.,... Göen, T. (2022). Interlaboratory Comparison Investigations (ICIs) and External Quality Assurance Schemes (EQUASs) for human biomonitoring of perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) in serum as part of the quality assurance programme under HBM4EU. Science of the Total Environment, 847. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.157481

MLA:

Nübler, Stefanie, et al. "Interlaboratory Comparison Investigations (ICIs) and External Quality Assurance Schemes (EQUASs) for human biomonitoring of perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) in serum as part of the quality assurance programme under HBM4EU." Science of the Total Environment 847 (2022).

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