Key points
- Communities around the United States have been concerned about possible health effects from PFAS exposure and have been looking to healthcare providers for counseling and support related to PFAS exposure.
- Ingestion of contaminated food and water is a main route of PFAS exposure.
- Health effects potentially associated with PFAS exposure include increases in cholesterol levels, decreases in birth weight, lower antibody response to vaccines, kidney and testicular cancer, pregnancy-induced hypertension, preeclampsia, and changes in liver enzymes.
- An exposure history can help clinicians determine the duration, magnitude, and routes of patients' PFAS exposures and reveal opportunities for exposure reduction.
- In deciding whether to order PFAS testing, clinicians can consider an individual's exposure history, results of PFAS testing from the patient's water supply, food sources, or other exposure routes, and whether results can inform exposure reduction and health promotion.
- PFAS blood testing results do not provide information for treatment or predict future health problems.
- Patients and clinicians can discuss the potential risks and benefits of using PFAS blood testing results to guide clinical management. Considerations include factors unique to the patient, including the patient's risk for disease; whether health screening beyond the usual standards of care is appropriate; and the potential for unnecessary further testing and treatment related to false positives from additional screening tests.
- No approved medical treatments are available to reduce PFAS in the body.
- ATSDR will continue to review the science and periodically update this information.
Content Source:
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
- [ATSDR] Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. 2021. Toxicological profile for perfluoroalkyls. U.S. Public Health Service, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Atlanta, GA [accessed 2023 May 4]. Available from: https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/ToxProfiles/tp200.pdf
- [CDC] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 2023. National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA [accessed 2023 May 4]. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/exposurereport/index.html
- [NASEM] National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Guidance on PFAS Exposure, Testing, and Clinical Follow-Up. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. Available from: https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/26156/guidance-on-pfas-exposure-testing-and-clinical-follow-up