Inter- and intra-individual variation in urinary concentrations of parabens in male and female Japanese subjects

Abstract

We evaluated the representativeness of concentrations of parabens in a spot urine sample for the assessment of long-term exposure levels. Urine sample was taken monthly from 10 male Japanese subjects (35.9 ± 6.8 years) and 12 female Japanese university students (21.1 ± 0.4 years) for 5 months and measured for methyl (MP), ethyl (EP), propyl (PP) and butyl (BP) parabens by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Median (min-max) specific-gravity-adjusted urinary concentrations of the male group (n = 10) were 39.7 (2.99-268), 1.69 (< 0.045-75.2), 0.569 (< 0.11-123) and 0.0264 (< 0.020-24.4) ng mL for MP, EP, PP and BP, respectively. Those of the female group (n = 12) were 283 (5.49-1687), 9.30 (0.290-487), 22.9 (< 0.11-307) and 3.76 (< 0.020-135) ng mL, respectively, which were significantly higher than those of the male group. Intra-class correlation coefficients (ICCs) were calculated for the four parabens to find 0.56, 0.58, 0.39 and 0.28 for MP, EP, PP and BP, respectively, in the male group, and 0.40, 0.43, 0.41 and 0.37 for MP, EP, PP and BP, respectively, in the female group. The results suggested that four paraben concentrations in a spot urine sample moderately reflected long-term paraben exposure of Japanese subjects. Source of exposure to parabens is also discussed.

Urinary Paraben Concentration and Its Association with Serum Triglyceride Concentration in 2013-2014 NHANES Participants: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…In terms of our study, this hypothesis would help explain why being female was associated with lower triglyceride concentrations when exposed to methylparaben, ethylparaben, or propylparaben and why those participants with a greater BMI did not have that association. It is also consistent with previous research that has found higher concentrations of various parabens in females [ 2 , 3 ].…”

“…In addition to urine, parabens have often been detected in human cells, milk, and tissue samples [ 1 – 5 ]. Several studies have associated urinary paraben levels with personal care product usage [ 1 – 3 ]. Furthermore, a study conducted in trauma victims found methylparabens in the bulk of their urine and serum samples [ 5 ].…”

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

“…Low ICCs were obtained for two random spots (ICCs < 0.30) (Engel et al, 2014) and two 24 h urine samples (ICCs < 0.42) (van der Meer et al, 2021) collected from adults at least two years apart. Higher ICCs were reported in other longitudinal studies in which repeated spot samples were provided by non-pregnant women and male adults over less than five months (ICCs 0.28-0.68) (Dewalque et al, 2015;Nishihama et al, 2018;Pollack et al, 2016). However, lower variability for MeP and EtP was observed in men (ICCs 0.56-0.58) than women (ICCs 0.40-0.43) (Dewalque et al, 2015;Nishihama et al, 2018;Pollack et al, 2016) which may be due to a different pattern of PCPs use.…”

“…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.…”

Influence of Vegetarian Dietary Intervention on Urinary Paraben Concentrations: A Pilot Study with ‘Temple Stay’ Participants

“…Parabens are non-persistent compounds that have short half-lives of about 4-8 h in the human body [12]. While urinary paraben levels fluctuate over time, humans are consistently exposed to parabens through numerous sources in daily lives [13,14]. Several nation-wide biomonitoring programs have shown the widespread occurrences of these chemicals in humans.…”