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In this study, based on sampling data from 30 sites in August 2010, the environmental risks associated with 16 priority PAHs were estimated in surface sediments from the Yangtze River Estuary (YRE). The results indicated that the toxic equivalent quantities of the benzo[a]pyrene (TEQ Bap ) from 30 sites were in the range of 1.93–75.88 ng g − 1 , and the low-molecular-weight PAHs were the dominated species with higher potential toxicity. The results of the Incremental Lifetime Cancer Risk (ILCR) model indicated that the ILCR values of dermal contact were higher than 10 − 6 in the northeast region, suggesting that there were significant potential carcinogenic health risks for fishermen exposure to sedimentary PAHs via dermal contact in these areas. RQ values of PAHs indicated the various distributions of ecological risk levels in the study area. These variations might be caused by the natural and anthropogenic inputs and currents in the YRE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]