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Obesity is a worldwide multifactorial disease linked to persistent pollutants exposure amongst other factors. Humans are daily exposed to an assort of pollutants, such as polychlorinated biphenyls, brominated flame retardants and synthetic musks. These, also known as endocrine disruptors, were all found in human adipose tissue, the preferable matrix for the assessment of long-time accumulation. There are several accounts of hazardous effects of polychlorinated biphenyls and brominated flame retardants on the human organism, whereas for synthetic musks little is still known. Hence, in this study, the levels of polychlorinated biphenyls, brominated flame retardants, and synthetic musks were measured in samples of adipose tissue from 188 Obese Portuguese Women (subcutaneous or scAT and visceral or vAT). After which, associations between pollutants levels and several biochemical parameters from assorted of metabolic processes were studied. Brominated flame retardants were not found in any sample analysed, synthetic musks were found in all the samples analysed (100 % detection frequency) with median levels of 0.4 ± 0.6 μg/g in scAT and 0.4 ± 0.7 μg/g in vAT and polychlorinated biphenyls were found in the majority of samples (<90 % detection frequency) with median levels of 0.1 ± 0.3 μg/g in both tissues. Median concentrations of synthetic musks and polychlorinated biphenyls were similar between scAT and vAT. In total 315 associations were achieved with pollutants levels in adipose tissue, including 273 Spearman's correlations (146 negative and 127 positive). Additionally, 3 multiple linear regressions were achieved. Synthetic musks behave differently than polychlorinated biphenyls and other well-known persistent pollutants in the human body. Synthetic musks behaviour is yet poorly known and their high levels and detection frequencies enforces the need for more studies about their impact on human health. Understanding how these chemicals alter the metabolism is crucial knowledge and hopefully will contribute to improving the treatment and follow-up of obesity in the female population., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Humans are exposed every day to assorted environmental pollutants namely, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB), organochlorine pesticides (OCP), brominated flame-retardants (BFR), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), synthetic musks, heavy metals (e.g. cadmium) and plastic additives (e.g. bisphenol A, BPA). Besides environmental persistence, biomagnification and bioaccumulative properties, these pollutants are classified as endocrine disruptors (EDs), metabolic disruptors, neurologic disruptors. These compounds affect the normal function of several mechanisms in the human body being linked to human health issues as cancer development (e.g. breast, uterine and endometrial), miscarriage, birth defects, premature delivery and infertility. In order to prevent future health issue of women and possible progeny, the assessment of EDs accumulated is essential, particularly in adipose tissue. These samples have been referred as the ideal matrix to establish over time accumulation and long-term exposure of persistent and non-persistent lipophilic EDs. However, the invasive sample collection procedure and methodology processing discourages the usage of this matrix for biomonitoring studies. In this review, a Web of Science search without any publishing year restriction on the analysis in adipose tissue of PCB, OCP, BPA, cadmium, BFR and synthetic musks was performed. A total of 313 studies were found, 158 were European studies from which the studies with data on women EDs accumulation were selected for detailed analysis (n = 90). The results were structured and presented in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. The present paper is an overview on the existent EDs analytical methods and levels accumulated in women adipose tissue, with the correspondent health implications across Europe. The limits of detection and quantification were compared and a discussion with results obtained about the presence of ED was performed., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)