Prediagnostic plasma concentrations of organochlorines and risk of B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma in envirogenomarkers: a nested case-control study

Table 2 Mean, median and range of exposure concentrations of six PCB congeners, HCB, DDT, DDE and BDE-47

Exposure	LOQ	Cases (n = 270)				% Controls (n = 270)^a				Difference p-value^b
Exposure	LOQ	% < LOQ	Median	Mean	Range	% < LOQ	Median	Mean	Range	Difference p-value^b
PCB118	5 pg/ml	0.0%	134.7	182	(8.5, 901.6)	0.0%	147.7	175.7	(11.6, 832.1)	0.991
PCB138	5 pg/ml	0.0%	530.0	605.6	(11.0, 1810.1)	0.0%	562.3	636.4	(51.2, 2675.4)	0.276
PCB153	4 pg/ml	0.0%	1007.8	1150.9	(32.5, 3308.0)	0.0%	1086	1205.5	(120.6, 4334.1)	0.239
PCB156	2 pg/ml	0.0%	90.6	102	(19.8, 307.8)	0.0%	95.6	106.7	(15.5, 394.9)	0.186
PCB170	4 pg/ml	0.0%	326.4	375.2	(62.7, 1082.3)	0.0%	357.6	389.4	(50.4, 1291.2)	0.284
PCB180	3 pg/ml	0.0%	696.6	788.8	(139.7, 2708.8)	0.0%	727.8	807.9	(100.1, 2431.5)	0.284
HCB	25 pg/ml	0.0%	257.8	398.1	(62.5, 3604.0)	0.0%	289.2	432.5	(64.5, 3882.2)	0.198
DDT	200 pg/ml	85.9%	261.8	331.7	(206.6, 825.8)	86.7%	298.2	399.8	(218.8, 1636.9)	0.865
DDE	5 pg/ml	0.0%	2478.7	4038.4	(16.4, 30992.8)	0.0%	2675.3	4200.1	(76.4, 23858.3)	0.374
BDE-47	15 pg/ml	84.1%	23.5	34.2	(15.1, 133.4)	81.1%	25.8	95.1	(15.3, 2063.3)	0.657

LOQ limit of quantification
^aPCB analyses were based on 269 controls as one participant with exposure levels above the 99^th percentile was excluded
^bDifferences between median concentrations in cases and controls according to the Wilcoxon signed-rank test for paired samples

ISSN: 1476-069X