The association analysis between exposure to volatile organic chemicals and obesity in the general USA population: A cross-sectional study from NHANES program

Background: Increasing evidence have been provided that the exposure to environment pollutants was associated obesity, while whether the exposure to volatile organic chemicals (VOC) was associated with obesity or abdominal obesity is yet to be clarified.Method: A cross-sectional study using data from the 6 survey cycles (2005-2006, 2011-2018, 2017-2020) of NHANES program was performed. Obesity and abdominal obesity were identified as a BMI >30 and a waist circumference >102 cm for men or >88 cm for women respectively. The quantile logistic regression method was used to analyze the association between VOC metabolites (VOCs) in urine and obesity, and the quantile regression method was used for the association analysis between VOCs in urine and BMI, as well as waist circumference.Results: A total of 17 524 participants (4965 obesity, 7317 abdominal obesity) were included, and participants in the obesity or abdominal obesity groups showed higher VOCs in urine than that in the control group. The CEMA was identified as the risk factor for obesity and abdominal obesity in all the 4 models, and its detected OR for obesity in the Q2 to Q4 of model 3 was 1.169 (Q2, p < 0.05), 1.306 (Q3, p < 0.001) and 1.217 (Q4, p < 0.01) respectively. And its OR for abdominal obesity in the Q2 to Q4 of model 3 was 1.222 (Q2, p < 0.01), 1.448 (Q3, p< 0.001) and 1.208 (Q4, p < 0.05) respectively. A significantly positive association between CEMA and BMI, as well as waist circumference, was also detected.Conclusion: In this study, we found that the exposure to VOC (Acrolein, Acrylamide, Acrylonitrile, 1,3-Butadiene, Crotonaldehyde, Cyanide, N,N-Dimethylformamide, Ethylbenzene, styrene, Propylene oxide, Toluene and Xylene) was significantly associated with obesity or abdominal obesity. And also, more prospective studies and related experimental researches should be carried out to further demonstrate the conclusion of this study.