Associations between observed formaldehyde concentrations and smoking, environmental tobacco smoke, and self-reported cancers and asthma: data for US children, adolescents, and adults

For the first time, the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) released data on hemoglobin adducts of formaldehyde (HCHO) in public domain for US children aged 6-11 years, adolescents aged 12-19 years, and adults aged > = 20 years for 2015-2016. This study was undertaken to evaluate the associations between concentrations of HCHO in whole blood and smoking, exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), and self-reported diagnoses of cancers and asthma. Adult smokers were found to have higher adjusted concentrations of HCHO than nonsmokers (127.7 vs. 125.1 pmol/g Hb, p = 0.02). Exposure to ETS was not found to affect the adjusted concentrations of HCHO. No associations were observed between HCHO concentrations and self-reported diagnosis of "ever" cancer as well as self-reported presence of asthma at the time of participation in NHANES. HCHO concentrations were not found to differ across genders and racial/ethnic groups for children and adolescents. Among adults, non-Hispanic blacks (120.0 pmol/g Hb) had lower adjusted concentrations (p < = 0.01) of HCHO than non-Hispanic whites (128.8 pmol/g Hb), Mexican Americans (129.4 pmol/g Hb), other Hispanics (130.3 pmol/g Hb), and non-Hispanic Asians (127.9 pmol/g Hb). In conclusion, self-reported diagnoses of cancer and asthma were not found to be associated with observed concentrations of HCHO in whole blood.

Keywords: Asthma; Cancer; Formaldehyde; Smoking.