Monitoring of urinary phthalate metabolites among pregnant women in Isfahan, Iran: the PERSIAN birth cohort

• Published in: Journal of environmental health science and engineering 2019-12, Vol.17 (2), p.969-978
• Main Authors: Darvishmotevalli, Mohammad, Bina, Bijan, Feizi, Awat, Ebrahimpour, Karim, Pourzamani, Hamidreza, Kelishadi, Roya
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Body fluids; Chromatography; Cosmetics; Creatinine; Demographics; Earth and Environmental Science; Education; Environment; Environmental Economics; Environmental Engineering/Biotechnology; Environmental Health; Environmental Law/Policy/Ecojustice; Esters; Exercise; Family; Family income; Food; Food packaging; Fruit juices; Gas chromatography; Health; Health risk assessment; Household chemicals; Income; Lemons; Mass spectrometry; Mass spectroscopy; Metabolites; Neonates; Newborn infants; Parent educational background; Passive smoking; Phthalate plasticizers; Phthalates; Physical activity; Population characteristics; Pregnancy; Pregnant women; Quality of Life Research; Research Article; Smoking; Spectroscopy; Waste Management/Waste Technology; Women smokers; Women's health
• ISSN: 2052-336X; 2052-336X
• DOI: 10.1007/s40201-019-00412-8

Recently, increasing evidences have shown that the exposure to phthalates can adversely affect health status of pregnant women and their newborns. However, only a limited number of studies have investigated the concentrations of these compounds in the body fluids of pregnant women. In the present study, we aimed to evaluate the concentrations of phthalate metabolites in urinary samples of pregnant women in correlation with the population characteristics and different lifestyle factors. The study was conducted in 2018–2019 and urinary samples were taken from 121 pregnant women during their first pregnancy trimester who lived in Isfahan, Iran. The concentrations of monobutyl phthalate (MBP), mono-benzyl phthalate (MBzP), mono-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (MEHP), and mono (2-ethyl-5hydroxyhexyl) phthalate (MEHHP) metabolites in urinary samples were determined by gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC/MS). The socio-demographic profile of the participants (maternal education, age, family income, pre-pregnancy BMI), their lifestyle information (smoking habit, food pattern, and physical activity), cleaning products use data (cosmetic and household cleaning products) were collected by the use of PERSIAN birth cohort questionnaire. MBzP, MBP, MEHP, and MEHHP were detected in 100% of participated pregnant women with the mean concentration of 342.5 ± 193.8, 308.5 ± 229.4, 126.5 ± 118.3, and 866.5 ± 307.6 μg/g creatinine, respectively. Significant correlations were observed between the mean concentration of urinary phthalate metabolites with the following variables: using plastic packaging (for bread, lemon juice, pickle, leftover, and water), lower physical activity, passive smoking exposure during pregnancy ( p value