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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2018 Jul 1.
Published in final edited form as: Environ Res. 2017 Apr 26;156:579–587. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2017.03.048

Table 2.

Blood BTEXS concentrations (ng/L).

Population Compound N LOD %>LOD GM P95 NHANES 2005–08 Values* GuLF STUDY Spearman Correlation Coefficients

GM P95 Benzene Toluene Ethylbenzene o-Xylene m/p-Xylene Styrene
Tobacco Smoke-Unexposed** Benzene 142 24 35 25 84 22 56 1 0.36 0.28 0.18 0.25 0.27
Toluene 144 25 99 88 314 86 329 1 0.54 0.47 0.63 0.29
Ethylbenzene 105 24 39 26 104 26 75 1 0.70 0.77 0.62
o-Xylene 142 24 39 25 99 28 84 1 0.84 0.27
m/p-Xylene 146 34 74 61 390 85 259 1 0.36
Styrene 141 30 59 52 882 25 55 1
Tobacco Smoke-Exposed*** Benzene 241 24 75 91 526 188 561 1 0.88 0.79 0.59 0.74 0.56
Toluene 244 25 100 262 1170 478 1393 1 0.83 0.75 0.86 0.55
Ethylbenzene 182 24 77 56 199 83 210 1 0.86 0.92 0.69
o-Xylene 237 24 71 37 113 54 135 1 0.93 0.55
m/p-Xylene 241 34 93 127 426 226 585 1 0.55
Styrene 234 30 87 98 1110 92 233 1

Abbreviations: GuLF STUDY, Gulf Long-term Follow-up Study, NHANES, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey; LOD, Limit of Detection; GM, Geometric Mean; P95, 95th percentile.

*

NHANES values for Tobacco Unexposed reflect adult NHANES participants (≥ 21 years) with blood 2,5-DMF concentrations less than 14 ng/mL; values for Tobacco Exposed reflect NHANES participants with blood 2,5-DMF concentrations greater than or equal to 14 ng/L.

**

Tobacco smoke-unexposed participants reported no primary tobacco use, less than 30 minutes of passive smoke exposure, and had blood 2,5-DMF concentrations less than 14 ng/L.

***

Tobacco smoke-exposed participants reported primary tobacco use, 30 or more minutes of passive smoke exposure, or had blood 2,5-DMF concentrations greater than or equal to 14 ng/L.