Socioeconomic status and public health in Australia: A wastewater-based study

Nikolaos I. Rousis; Zhe Li; Richard Bade; Michael S. McLachlan; Jochen F. Mueller; Jake W. O'Brien; Saer Samanipour; Benjamin J. Tscharke; Nikolaos S. Thomaidis; Kevin V. Thomas

Environment International (Sep 2022)

Socioeconomic status and public health in Australia: A wastewater-based study

Nikolaos I. Rousis,
Zhe Li,
Richard Bade,
Michael S. McLachlan,
Jochen F. Mueller,
Jake W. O'Brien,
Saer Samanipour,
Benjamin J. Tscharke,
Nikolaos S. Thomaidis,
Kevin V. Thomas

Affiliations

Nikolaos I. Rousis: Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences (QAEHS), The University of Queensland, 20 Cornwall Street, Woolloongabba, QLD 4102, Australia; Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Panepistimiopolis Zografou, 15771 Athens, Greece; Corresponding author at: Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences (QAEHS), The University of Queensland, 20 Cornwall Street, Woolloongabba, QLD 4102, Australia.
Zhe Li: Department of Environmental Science, Stockholm University, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
Richard Bade: Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences (QAEHS), The University of Queensland, 20 Cornwall Street, Woolloongabba, QLD 4102, Australia
Michael S. McLachlan: Department of Environmental Science, Stockholm University, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
Jochen F. Mueller: Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences (QAEHS), The University of Queensland, 20 Cornwall Street, Woolloongabba, QLD 4102, Australia
Jake W. O'Brien: Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences (QAEHS), The University of Queensland, 20 Cornwall Street, Woolloongabba, QLD 4102, Australia
Saer Samanipour: Faculty of Science, Van't Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences, University of Amsterdam, Science Park, 904 GD Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Benjamin J. Tscharke: Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences (QAEHS), The University of Queensland, 20 Cornwall Street, Woolloongabba, QLD 4102, Australia
Nikolaos S. Thomaidis: Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Panepistimiopolis Zografou, 15771 Athens, Greece
Kevin V. Thomas: Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences (QAEHS), The University of Queensland, 20 Cornwall Street, Woolloongabba, QLD 4102, Australia

Journal volume & issue: Vol. 167
p. 107436

Abstract

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Analysis of untreated municipal wastewater is recognized as an innovative approach to assess population exposure to or consumption of various substances. Currently, there are no published wastewater-based studies investigating the relationships between catchment social, demographic, and economic characteristics with chemicals using advanced non-targeted techniques. In this study, fifteen wastewater samples covering 27% of the Australian population were collected during a population Census. The samples were analysed with a workflow employing liquid chromatography high-resolution mass spectrometry and chemometric tools for non-target analysis. Socioeconomic characteristics of catchment areas were generated using Geospatial Information Systems software. Potential correlations were explored between pseudo-mass loads of the identified compounds and socioeconomic and demographic descriptors of the wastewater catchments derived from Census data. Markers of public health (e.g., cardiac arrhythmia, cardiovascular disease, anxiety disorder and type 2 diabetes) were identified in the wastewater samples by the proposed workflow. They were positively correlated with descriptors of disadvantage in education, occupation, marital status and income, and negatively correlated with descriptors of advantage in education and occupation. In addition, markers of polypropylene glycol (PPG) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) related compounds were positively correlated with housing and occupation disadvantage. High positive correlations were found between separated and divorced people and specific drugs used to treat cardiac arrhythmia, cardiovascular disease, and depression. Our robust non-targeted methodology in combination with Census data can identify relationships between biomarkers of public health, human behaviour and lifestyle and socio-demographics of whole populations. Furthermore, it can identify specific areas and socioeconomic groups that may need more assistance than others for public health issues. This approach complements important public health information and enables large-scale national coverage with a relatively small number of samples.

Published in Environment International

ISSN: 0160-4120 (Print)
Publisher: Elsevier
Country of publisher: United Kingdom
LCC subjects: Geography. Anthropology. Recreation: Environmental sciences
Website: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/environment-international

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