Assessment of individual-based perfluoroalkly substances exposure by multiple human exposure sources

Highlights: • Daily intakes of PFASs on individual basis by multiple exposure sources are reported. • PFASs in dust showed most significant correlation with PFASs in serum. • Food ingestion was the main contributor of PFASs intake to human. • Indirect dust ingestion was the second contributor of PFASs intake to human. • Individual-based intake of PFASs was higher than the intake on group/scenario basis. -- Abstract: Individual exposure of perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) was assessed by analyzing serum, food, dust, drinking water, and hand wipes from 50 individuals. The PFASs concentrations in serum were correlated most strongly with exposure to PFASs through the (direct and indirect) ingestion of dust (p < 0.01). Daily PFOA intakes were estimated to be 2.07 ng/kg/day from food, 0.003 ng/kg/day from dust, 0.053 ng/kg/day from hand-to-mouth activity, and 0.020 ng/kg/day from drinking water. Daily perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) intakes were estimated to be 0.689 ng/kg/day from food, 0.001 ng/kg/day from dust, 0.018 ng/kg/day from hand-to-mouth activity, and 0.005 ng/kg/day from drinking water. The daily PFOA and PFOS intakes calculated for individuals in this study and in group/scenario based exposure assessment of previous studies were compared. The estimated PFOS intake on individual basis (0.695 ng/kg/day) was a little bit higher than the intake on group/scenario basis (0.652 ng/kg/day). However, the estimated daily PFOA intake on individual basis (1.41 ng/kg/day) was about four times higher than the intake on group/scenario basis (0.339 ng/kg/day). Among the exposure pathways, food ingestion was major contributor to the total daily PFOA and PFOS intakes on individuals (99% of total intake) and group/scenario basis (64% of total intake).