Variations, Determinants, and Coexposure Patterns of Personal Care Product Chemicals among Chinese Pregnant Women: A Longitudinal Study

Abstract

Exposure to mixtures of personal care product chemicals (PCPCs) is commonplace among the Chinese population; yet, limited data are available on the variations, determinants, and coexposure patterns of PCPCs, particularly among pregnant women at multiple time points during gestation. Here, we measured concentrations of 11 most common PCPCs (five parabens, five benzophenones, and triclosan) in 2823 urine samples collected from 941 pregnant women over three trimesters. Based on the quantification results, we calculated the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) to assess within-person variability of targeted compounds, applied linear mixed mode models to explore associations between urinary concentrations of PCPCs and exposure-related factors, and used percentile analysis to evaluate exposure to specific or multiple chemicals at one or three trimesters. Seven targeted compounds: methylparaben (MeP), ethylparaben (EtP), propylparaben (PrP), 4-hydroxybenzophenone (4-OH-BP), 2,4-dihydroxybenzophenone (BP-1), 2-hydroxy-4-methoxybenzophenone (BP-3), and triclosan (TCS) were detected in over 66% of samples. The median urinary concentrations (ng/mL) of MeP, EtP, PrP, 4-OH-BP, BP-1, BP-3, and TCS were 15.44, 0.49, 0.61, 0.16, 0.25, 0.53, and 0.48, respectively. We observed that benzophenones (ICC: 0.46–0.55) and triclosan (ICC: 0.50) were less variable than parabens (ICC: 0.35–0.40). Urinary levels of parabens were related to physical activity frequency; urinary levels of benzophenones were associated with the refurbishment of homes and household income, and urinary levels of triclosan were contingent upon the personal basic information (prepregnancy body mass index and age). Notably, higher levels of benzophenones and triclosan but lower paraben levels were observed in summer than in winter. Both coexposure to high percentiles of multiple pollutants at one trimester and exposure to one pollutant at high-dose through three trimesters were rare in the study population. Our findings suggest that these exposure-related factors should be taken into consideration, and health risks should be assessed on mixtures of pollutants in future epidemiological studies.

Reviewing the variability in urinary concentrations of non-persistent organic chemicals: evaluation across classes, sampling strategies and dilution corrections

“…In total, 17 studies describing temporal variability in urinary excretion of parabens in general population (Dewalque et al, 2015;Engel et al, 2014;Huang et al, 2021;Kim et al, 2020b;Koch et al, 2014;Nishihama et al, 2018;Pollack et al, 2016;Sakhi et al, 2018;Smith et al, 2012;van der Meer et al, 2021), pregnant women (Casas et al, 2018;Guidry et al, 2015;Li et al, 2019b;Meeker et al, 2013a;Philippat et al, 2013;Vernet et al, 2018;Yazdy et al, 2018) and children (Casas et al, 2018;Kim et al, 2020b) were retrieved from the literature search. ICCs for two parabens (MeP and PrP) were reported in all studies.…”

Urinary concentrations of parabens amongst Iranian adults and their associations with socio-demographic factors

“…Results of another study showed a significant negative association of physical activity with urinary concentrations of parabens [27]. However, positive associations have been reported between urinary MP and BP concentrations and the physical activity level [58]. The mechanism of the effect of intensity of physical activity on the increase or decrease of paraben excretion from the body is not well known.…”

Maternal exposure to housing renovation during the periconceptional period and the risk of offspring with isolated congenital heart disease: a case-control study

“…The association between housing renovation exposure and CHD may be attributed to organic pollutants and other volatile contaminants being released from decoration materials. According to a prior study, women whose homes had been decorated in the previous three years had higher urinary benzophenone concentrations than women whose homes had not been decorated [23]. Several studies have revealed that maternal occupational exposure to organic solvents, such as acetone, toluene, xylene, and Stoddard solvent or Chlorinated solvents potentially increased the overall risk of CHD and other system anomalies [8][9][10][11].…”