Urinary BPA levels are found to be associated with diabetes mellitus independent of traditional diabetes risk factors. Future prospective studies are needed to confirm or disprove this finding.

Background: Bisphenol A (BPA) is a common chemical used in the manufacture of polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins, and > 93% of U.S. adults have detectable levels of urinary BPA. Recent animal studies have suggested that BPA exposure may have a role in several mechanisms involved in the development of cardiovascular disease (CVD), including weight gain, insulin resistance, thyroid dysfunction, endothelial dysfunction, and oxidative stress. However, few human studies have examined the association between markers of BPA exposure and CVD. Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is a subclinical measure of atherosclerotic vascular disease and a strong independent risk factor for CVD and mortality.Objective: We examined the association between urinary BPA levels and PAD in a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults.Methods: We analyzed data from 745 participants in the National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey 2003–2004. We estimated associations between urinary BPA levels (in tertiles) and PAD (ankle–brachial index < 0.9, n = 63) using logistic regression models adjusted for potential confounders (age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, smoking, body mass index, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, urinary creatinine, estimated glomerular filtration rate, and serum cholesterol levels).Results: We observed a significant, positive association between increasing levels of urinary BPA and PAD before and after adjusting for confounders. The multivariable-adjusted odds ratio for PAD associated with the highest versus lowest tertile of urinary BPA was 2.69 (95% confidence interval: 1.02, 7.09; p-trend = 0.01).Conclusions: Urinary BPA levels were significantly associated with PAD, independent of traditional CVD risk factors.

Background. Bisphenol A (BPA) is a common chemical used in the manufacture of polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins, with >93% of US adults having detectable BPA levels in urine. Recent animal studies have suggested that BPA exposure may have a role in several mechanisms involved in the development of hypertension, including weight gain, insulin resistance, thyroid dysfunction, endothelial dysfunction, and oxidative stress. However, no previous human study has examined the association between markers of BPA exposure and hypertension. Methods. We examined urinary BPA levels in 1380 subjects from the National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey 2003-2004. Main outcome-of-interest was hypertension, defined as blood pressure-reducing medication use and/or blood pressures >140/90 mm of Hg (n = 580). Results. We observed a positive association between increasing levels of urinary BPA and hypertension independent of confounding factors such as age, gender, race/ethnicity, smoking, body mass index (BMI), diabetes mellitus and total serum cholesterol levels. Compared to tertile 1 (referent), the multivariate-adjusted odds ratio (95% confidence interval) of hypertension associated with tertile 3 was 1.50 (1.12−2.00); P-trend = 0.007. The association was consistently present in subgroup analyses by race/ethnicity, smoking status, BMI, and diabetes mellitus. Conclusions. Urinary BPA levels are associated with hypertension, independent of traditional risk factors.

Bisphenol A (BPA) is a widely used chemical. We examined the association between urinary BPA levels and obesity in the National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey (NHANES) 2003–2008. The main outcome of interest was obesity defined as (1) body mass index (BMI) ≥ 30 Kg/m2 and (2) waist circumference (WC) ≥ 102 cm in men and ≥ 88 cm in women. Urinary BPA levels were examined in quartiles. Overall, we observed a positive association between increasing levels of urinary BPA and both measures of obesity, independent of potential confounding factors including, smoking, alcohol consumption, and serum cholesterol levels. Compared to quartile 1 (referent), the multivariate-adjusted odds ratio (95% confidence interval) associated with quartile 4 for BMI-based obesity was 1.69 (1.30–2.20); P-trend < 0.0001 and for WC-based obesity was 1.59 (1.21–2.09); P-trend = 0.0009. This association between BPA and both measures of obesity was consistently present across gender and race-ethnic groups (all P-trend < 0.05). Elevated levels of urinary BPA are associated with measures of obesity independent of traditional risk factors. This association is consistently present across gender and race-ethnic groups. Future prospective studies are needed to confirm or disprove this finding.

OBJECTIVESerum insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-1 may have a role in the maintenance of glucose homeostasis. We examined the association between serum IGF-1 and diabetes in a representative sample of U.S. adults.RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODSThird National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III) participants aged ≥18 years (n = 5,511) were the subjects of the study. The main outcome was the presence of diabetes (n = 387).RESULTSLower serum IGF-1 levels were positively associated with diabetes after adjusting for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, smoking, alcohol intake, BMI, hypertension, glomerular filtration rate, and serum cholesterol. Compared with quartile 4 of IGF-1 (referent), the odds ratio (OR) of diabetes associated with quartile 1 was OR 2.16 (95% CI 1.24–3.76); P-trend = 0.002. However, the observed association between IGF-1 and diabetes was present only in those <65 years of age (OR = 3.05; P-trend = 0.006) and disappeared in those ≥65 years of age (OR = 0.51; P-trend = 0.18); P-interaction = 0.0056.CONCLUSIONSLow IGF-1 levels are associated with diabetes among young subjects.