Diabetes, Cardiovascular Disorders and 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-Dioxin Body Burden in Czech Patients 50 Years After the Intoxication
Abstract
The correlation between 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) intoxication and the parameters of metabolic impairment was examined in the last eight male survivors of 80 workers exposed to TCDD during the production of herbicides in a chemical factory in 1965-1967. Their median TCDD blood level was 112 (46-390) pg/g lipids, and the median TCDD body deposit was 3.9 (0.8-11.7) g.
This puts these patients into the most severely intoxicated group of subjects, according to back-calculated levels of TCDD. The median TCDD blood level in eight controls was 12pg/g (50% and two had a carotid intervention (stenting or endarterectomy).
Total cholesterol levels decreased compared to the earlier study this patient group in 2008, most likely due to a more intensive use of lipid-lowering drugs. Several metabolic parameters were higher (diabetes as much as 3.5-fold) in the group of severely TCDD-intoxicated subjects than in a general population of comparable age.
This suggests that TCDD plays a role in the development of metabolic impairment and vascular changes.