The Use of Human Biomonitoring to Assess Occupational Exposure to PAHs in Europe: A Comprehensive Review

Abstract

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are among the chemicals with proven impact on workers’ health. The use of human biomonitoring (HBM) to assess occupational exposure to PAHs has becomemore common in recent years, but the data generated need an overall viewtomake themmore usable by regulators and policymakers. This comprehensive review, developed under theHuman Biomonitoring for Europe (HBM4EU) Initiative,was based on the literature available from2008–2022, aiming to present and discuss the information on occupational exposure to PAHs, in order to identify the strengths and limitations of exposure and effect biomarkers and the knowledge needs for regulation in the workplace. The most frequently used exposure biomarker is urinary 1-hydroxypyrene (1-OH-PYR), ametabolite of pyrene. As effect biomarkers, those based on the measurement of oxidative stress (urinary 8-oxo-dG adducts) and genotoxicity (blood DNA strand-breaks) are themost common. Overall, a need to advance newharmonized approaches both in data and sample collection and in the use of appropriate biomarkers in occupational studies to obtain reliable and comparable data on PAHexposure in different industrial sectors,was noted. Moreover, the use of effect biomarkers can assist to identify work environments or activities of high risk, thus enabling preventive riskmitigation andmanagementmeasures.