Racial and ethnic variations in phthalate metabolite concentration changes across full-term pregnancies

• Published in: Journal of exposure science & environmental epidemiology 2017-03, Vol.27 (2), p.160-166
• Main Authors: James-Todd, Tamarra M, Meeker, John D, Huang, Tianyi, Hauser, Russ, Seely, Ellen W, Ferguson, Kelly K, Rich-Edwards, Janet W, McElrath, Thomas F
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 692/700/1750/1747; 692/700/478/174; 704/172/169/895; Adult; African American women; Analysis; Analysis of Variance; Black or African American - statistics & numerical data; Boston; Childrens health; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; Confidence intervals; Cultural differences; Demographic aspects; Dioctyl phthalate; Environmental Exposure - analysis; Environmental Pollutants - urine; Epidemiology; Ethnicity; Evaluation; Female; Health aspects; Hispanic American women; Hispanic or Latino - statistics & numerical data; Hispanic people; Humans; Maternal Exposure; Mathematical analysis; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Metabolites; Minority & ethnic groups; original-article; Phthalates; Phthalic Acids - urine; Pregnancy; Pregnancy - urine; Pregnancy Trimesters - urine; Pregnant Women; Prospective Studies; Race; Racial Groups; Specific gravity; Surveys and Questionnaires; Variance analysis; Womens health; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1559-0631; 1559-064X; 1559-064X
• DOI: 10.1038/jes.2016.2

Higher concentrations of certain phthalate metabolites are associated with adverse reproductive and pregnancy outcomes, as well as poor infant/child health outcomes. In non-pregnant populations, phthalate metabolite concentrations vary by race/ethnicity. Few studies have documented racial/ethnic differences between phthalate metabolite concentrations at multiple time points across the full-course of pregnancy. The objective of the study was to characterize the change in phthalate metabolite concentrations by race/ethnicity across multiple pregnancy time points. Women were participants in a prospectively collected pregnancy cohort who delivered at term (≥37 weeks) and had available urinary phthalate metabolite concentrations for ≥3 time points across full-term pregnancies ( n =350 women). We assessed urinary concentrations of eight phthalate metabolites that were log-transformed and specific gravity-adjusted. We evaluated the potential racial/ethnic differences in phthalate metabolite concentrations at baseline (median 10 weeks gestation) using ANOVA and across pregnancy using linear mixed models to calculate the percent change and 95% confidence intervals adjusted for sociodemographic and lifestyle factors. Almost 30% of the population were non-Hispanic black or Hispanic. With the exception of mono-(3-carboxypropyl) (MCPP) and di-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) metabolites, baseline levels of phthalate metabolites were significantly higher in non-whites ( P