Open AccessTemporal Trends of Exposure to Phthalates and Phthalate Alternatives in California Pregnant Women during 2007–2013: Comparison with Other Populations
Author(s) -
HyeongMoo Shin,
Upasana Dhar,
Antònia M. Calafat,
Vy Nguyen,
Rebecca J. Schmidt,
Irva HertzPicciotto
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
environmental science and technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.851
H-Index - 397
eISSN - 1520-5851
pISSN - 0013-936X
DOI - 10.1021/acs.est.0c03857
Subject(s) - phthalate , dibutyl phthalate , diethyl phthalate , biomarker , pregnancy , urine , dimethyl phthalate , medicine , environmental health , toxicology , physiology , endocrinology , chemistry , biology , biochemistry , organic chemistry , genetics
Phthalates with potential adverse health effects are being replaced by other phthalates or phthalate alternatives. Little is known about temporal trends of phthalate exposure in pregnant women in the United States. We quantified 16 metabolites of eight phthalates and di(isononyl) cyclohexane-1,2-dicarboxylate (DINCH) in 656 urine samples collected from 192 California pregnant women in 2007-2013 during their second and third trimesters of pregnancy who participated in the MARBLES (Markers of Autism Risk in Babies-Learning Early Signs) study. We used multiple regression to estimate least squares geometric means of phthalate biomarker concentrations and annual percent changes over the study period. Biomarker concentrations of diethyl phthalate (DEP) and three phthalates with known toxicity and adverse health effects (i.e., butyl benzyl phthalate [BBzP], dibutyl phthalate [DBP], di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate [DEHP]) decreased, while those of di-isobutyl phthalate [DiBP], di-isononyl phthalate [DiNP], and di- n -octyl phthalate [DOP] increased in California pregnant women during our study period. To understand broad social forces that may influence temporal trends and geographic variations in phthalate exposure across countries, we compared our phthalate biomarker concentrations with those of other populations. We observed over a factor of 2 differences in exposure across countries for some phthalate biomarkers and between pregnant and nonpregnant women for DEP.