Indoor phthalate exposure and contributions to total intake among pregnant women in the SELMA study

Abstract

Phthalates are widely used in consumer products. Exposure to phthalates can lead to adverse health effects in humans, with early‐life exposure being of particular concern. Phthalate exposure occurs mainly through ingestion, inhalation, and dermal absorption. However, our understanding of the relative importance of different exposure routes is incomplete. This study estimated the intake of five phthalates from the residential indoor environment for 455 Swedish pregnant women in the SELMA study using phthalate mass fraction in indoor dust and compares these to total daily phthalate intakes back‐calculated from phthalate metabolite concentrations in the women's urine. Steady‐state models were used to estimate indoor air phthalate concentrations from dust measurements. Intakes from residential dust and air made meaningful contributions to total daily intakes of more volatile di‐ethyl phthalate (DEP), di‐n‐butyl phthalate (DnBP), and di‐iso‐butyl phthalate (DiBP) (11% of total DEP intake and 28% of total DnBP and DiBP intake combined). Dermal absorption from air was the dominant pathway contributing to the indoor environmental exposure. Residential exposure to less volatile phthalates made minor contributions to total intake. These results suggest that reducing the presence of low molecular weight phthalates in the residential indoor environment can meaningfully reduce phthalate intake among pregnant women.

Phthalate levels in prenatal and postnatal bedroom dust in the SELMA study

“…Levels were higher in flats compared to houses and in smaller homes compared to larger. We have previously reported higher dust levels of BBzP and DEHP in prenatal dust from SELMA families with PVC bedroom flooring (Preece et al, 2021a(Preece et al, , 2021b and similar results were reported in other studies (Bi et al, 2018;Bornehag et al, 2004;Christia et al, 2019). The common use of PVC flooring in Sweden (Larsson et al, 2010) might also contribute to explain the lower Danish BBzP levels compared to this study.…”

“…Dust samples were analysed using gas chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS) as previously described by Weiss et al (2018) and Preece et al (2021aPreece et al ( , 2021b. More information on the chemical analysis is available in the Supplementary Information.…”

“…Pregnant women and children may be particularly vulnerable to exposure to phthalates such as BBzP and DEHP, due to their ability to disrupt early-life hormone-dependent development (Bølling et al, 2020;Engel et al, 2021). Higher levels of BBzP and DEHP in dust have been associated with asthma, allergy and croup in children (Bornehag et al, 2004;Bølling et al, 2020;Preece et al, 2021aPreece et al, , 2021b. Phthalate intake from dust is of particular concern for young children.…”

Distribution, Correlations, and Risk Evaluation of Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals from Indoor Aerosols within Universities in Nigeria

“…Furthermore, aerosol samples were collected from above-floor levels (aerosols from air conditioner filters), which is more representative of emissions from interior surfaces, compared with floor dust, which can be directly related to the flooring material. 75 Although the study was able to make some inferences on gender-based related influence on the distribution of EDCs in aerosols especially from staff offices, it was, however, very difficult to secure permission from staff of several of the universities used in this study to collect aerosols from their offices. This is largely due to a certain local superstitious belief that these aerosols could be used to hurt them remotely.…”

Phthalate Exposure Levels and Related Factors in the Urban Low-Income Group: Focus on a Residential Disadvantaged Community

“…실내 바닥에 polyvinyl chloride (PVC)를 사 용한 경우나 6개월 이내 리모델링한 경우, 건축연도가 오래된 경우 소변 중 프탈레이트 대사체 또는 실내 먼지 중 프탈레이트 의 농도가 증가하는 것으로 나타났다. [12][13][14][15][16][17][18] 그러나 나무, 리놀륨 등 다양한 마감재를 사용하는 국외 주택과 다르게, 15,16)…”