Xenoestrogens: Do they lower survival after thermal injury?

The effect of hormone disruptors on human health is an area of recent concern. The authors measured heptachlor epoxide and oxychlordane-the body storage forms of estrogenic insecticides-in the sera of patients with major burns (i.e., 7 survivors and 10 age-and burn-size-matched nonsurvivors) on days 1, 3, 5, 7, and 11 after they had been burned, as well as in 12 age-matched normal controls. During the hypermetabolic phase, serum concentrations of heptachlor epoxide and oxychlordane were greater in nonsurvivors than in controls, and heptachlor epoxide concentrations in nonsurvivors exceeded those in survivors on postburn day 5. The postburn alterations in heptachlor epoxide and oxychlordane concentrations could not be accounted for by changes in concentrations of circulating lipid. These findings, which indicate that xenoestrogens are released from fat depots after thermal injury, suggest a possible contribution to mortality, especially in older patients.