UC Irvine

Perfluoro-n-octanoic acid (PFOA) and Perfluoro-1-octanesulfonate (PFOS) are ubiquitous and highly stable toxins in our environment. Animal and epidemiological research studies have begun to shed light on the toxicological profile and health effects of PFOA/S, including their impacts on respiratory function. Asthma is one of the health effects that has been linked to PFOA/S exposure. In this study, we explored the association between PFOA/S in drinking water and asthma emergency department (ED) visits per 10,000 in Orange (OC) and LA counties (LAC). These studies were conducted at the population level using data sets containing drinking water concentrations of PFOA/S and number of asthma ED visits within the ZIP Codes of the 2 counties. PFOA/S concentrations in drinking water for LAC and OC water districts from 2013-2015 was obtained from the Third Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule dataset. We conducted geographical analysis using ArcGIS by quantitatively mapping PFOA/S drinking water levels and asthma ED visits by ZIP Code. We performed statistical analysis using linear as well as non-linear regression methods to determine if PFOA/S drinking water levels were associated with asthma ED. These statistical analyses controlled for various potential confounders of this relationship — race, education, household income, air quality (diesel, pm2.5). Mapping and statistical analysis did not reveal a direct relationship between PFOA/S drinking water levels and rates of asthma ED visits.