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Record W3203986126 · doi:10.1101/2021.09.28.21264274

Sex-specific associations between type 2 diabetes incidence and exposure to dioxin and dioxin-like pollutants: a meta-analysis

2021· preprint· en· W3203986126 on OpenAlexafffund
Noa Gang, Kyle Van Allen, Paul J. Villeneuve, H. Robson MacDonald, Jennifer E. Bruin

Bibliographic record

VenuemedRxiv · 2021
Typepreprint
Languageen
FieldEnvironmental Science
TopicToxic Organic Pollutants Impact
Canadian institutionsCarleton University
FundersCanadian Institutes of Health Research
KeywordsType 2 diabetesDiabetes mellitusIncidence (geometry)Odds ratioPopulationEpidemiologyMedicineMeta-analysisEnvironmental healthPhysiologyDemographyInternal medicineEndocrinology

Abstract

Abstract The relationship between persistent organic pollutants (POPs), including dioxins and dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (DL-PCBs), and diabetes incidence in adults has been extensively studied. However, significant variability exists in the reported associations both between and within studies. Emerging data from rodent studies suggest that dioxin exposure disrupts glucose homeostasis in a sex-specific manner. Thus, we performed a meta-analysis of relevant epidemiological studies to investigate whether there are sex-specific associations between dioxin or DL-PCB exposure and type 2 diabetes incidence. Articles were organized into the following subcategories: data stratified by sex (16%), unstratified data (56%), and data from only 1 sex (16% male, 12% female). We also considered whether exposure occurred either abruptly at high levels through a contamination event (“disaster exposure”) or chronically at background levels (“non-disaster exposure”). Only 8 studies compared associations between dioxin/DL-PCB exposure and diabetes risk in males versus females within the same population. When all sex-stratified or single sex studies were considered in the meta-analysis, the summary odds ratio (OR) for increased diabetes risk was similar between females and males (1.78 and 1.95, respectively) when comparing exposed to reference populations, suggesting that this relationship is not sex-specific. However, when we considered disaster-exposed populations separately, the association differed substantially between sexes, with females showing a much higher OR than males (2.86 and 1.59, respectively). Moreover, the association between dioxin/DL-PCB exposure and diabetes was stronger for females than males in disaster-exposed populations. In contrast, both sexes had significantly increased ORs in non-disaster exposure populations and the OR for females was lower than males (1.40 and 2.02, respectively). Our review emphasizes the importance of considering sex differences, as well as the mode of pollutant exposure, when exploring the relationship between pollutant exposure and diabetes in epidemiological studies.

Stored with the screening record, where it is evidence for the labels above.

How this classification was reachedexpand

The three-model screen

all 5,600 screened works →

All three models called this out of scope.

stratum: aff_core · design weight: 5595.24 (the sample is stratified; any rate computed without the weight is wrong)
Claude Opus 4.8OUT
genre: empirical
about Canada: no
confidence: medium

Meta-analysis of dioxin exposure and diabetes risk by sex; it notes how often studies stratify by sex, but the knowledge produced is about an exposure-disease association.

GPT-5.6 (high)OUT
genre: empirical
about Canada: no
confidence: high

This meta-analysis answers a substantive epidemiological question about pollutants and diabetes rather than studying evidence synthesis methods.

Grok 4.5OUT
genre: empirical
about Canada: no
confidence: high

Meta-analysis answering whether dioxin exposure associates with diabetes by sex; synthesis used for a health question.

Full frame machine prediction

Teacher imitation

Not calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.

metaresearch head score (Codex)0.011
metaresearch head score (Gemma)0.017
Version: metacan-v3-hybrid-931329e0061cValidation status: machine_predicted_unvalidated
Candidate categoriesMeta-epidemiology (broad)
Consensus categoriesnone
DomainCandidate signal: none · Consensus signal: none
Study designCandidate signal: Meta-analysis · Consensus signal: Meta-analysis
GenreCandidate signal: Empirical · Consensus signal: none
Teacher disagreement score0.988
Threshold uncertainty score0.000

Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)

CategoryCodexGemma
Metaresearch0.0110.017
Meta-epidemiology (narrow)0.0030.002
Meta-epidemiology (broad)0.0120.057
Bibliometrics0.0050.007
Science and technology studies0.0010.001
Scholarly communication0.0030.001
Open science0.0020.002
Research integrity0.0020.002
Insufficient payload (model declined to judge)0.0040.000

Machine scores (provisional)

The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.

Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.

Opus teacher head0.039
GPT teacher head0.269
Teacher spread0.230 · how far apart the two teachers sit on this one work
Validation statusscore_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from it

Classification

machine, unvalidated

Machine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.

Study designMeta-analysis
Domainnot available
GenreEmpirical

How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".

Quick stats

Citations6
Published2021
Admission routes2
Has abstractyes

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