TY - JOUR

T1 - Exposure to Phthalates in European Children, Adolescents and Adults since 2005

T2 - A Harmonized Approach Based on Existing HBM Data in the HBM4EU Initiative

AU - Vogel, Nina

AU - Lange, Rosa

AU - Schmidt, Phillipp

AU - Rodriguez Martin, Laura

AU - Remy, Sylvie

AU - Springer, Andrea

AU - Puklová, Vladimíra

AU - Černá, Milena

AU - Rudnai, Péter

AU - Középesy, Szilvia

AU - Janasik, Beata

AU - Ligocka, Danuta

AU - Fábelová, Lucia

AU - Kolena, Branislav

AU - Petrovicova, Ida

AU - Jajcaj, Michal

AU - Eštóková, Milada

AU - Esteban-Lopez, Marta

AU - Castaño, Argelia

AU - Tratnik, Janja Snoj

AU - Stajnko, Anja

AU - Knudsen, Lisbeth E.

AU - Toppari, Jorma

AU - Main, Katharina M.

AU - Juul, Anders

AU - Andersson, Anna Maria

AU - Jørgensen, Niels

AU - Frederiksen, Hanne

AU - Thomsen, Cathrine

AU - Sakhi, Amrit Kaur

AU - Åkesson, Agneta

AU - Hartmann, Christina

AU - Dewolf, Marie Christine

AU - Koppen, Gudrun

AU - Biot, Pierre

AU - Den Hond, Elly

AU - Voorspoels, Stefan

AU - Gilles, Liese

AU - Govarts, Eva

AU - Murawski, Aline

AU - Gerofke, Antje

AU - Weber, Till

AU - Rüther, Maria

AU - Gutleb, Arno C.

AU - Guignard, Cedric

AU - Berman, Tamar

AU - Koch, Holger M.

AU - Kolossa-Gehring, Marike

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2023 by the authors.

PY - 2023

Y1 - 2023

N2 - Phthalates are mainly used as plasticizers and are associated inter alia with adverse effects on reproductive functions. While more and more national programs in Europe have started monitoring internal exposure to phthalates and its substitute 1,2-Cyclohexanedicarboxylic acid (DINCH), the comparability of results from such existing human biomonitoring (HBM) studies across Europe is challenging. They differ widely in time periods, study samples, degree of geographical coverage, design, analytical methodology, biomarker selection, and analytical quality assurance level. The HBM4EU initiative has gathered existing HBM data of 29 studies from participating countries, covering all European regions and Israel. The data were prepared and aggregated by a harmonized procedure with the aim to describe—as comparably as possible—the EU-wide general population’s internal exposure to phthalates from the years 2005 to 2019. Most data were available from Northern (up to 6 studies and up to 13 time points), Western (11; 19), and Eastern Europe (9; 12), e.g., allowing for the investigation of time patterns. While the bandwidth of exposure was generally similar, we still observed regional differences for Butyl benzyl phthalate (BBzP), Di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), Di-isononyl phthalate (DiNP), and Di-isobutyl phthalate (DiBP) with pronounced decreases over time in Northern and Western Europe, and to a lesser degree in Eastern Europe. Differences between age groups were visible for Di-n-butyl phthalate (DnBP), where children (3 to 5-year olds and 6 to 11-year olds) had lower urinary concentrations than adolescents (12 to 19-year-olds), who in turn had lower urinary concentrations than adults (20 to 39-year-olds). This study is a step towards making internal exposures to phthalates comparable across countries, although standardized data were not available, targeting European data sets harmonized with respect to data formatting and calculation of aggregated data (such as developed within HBM4EU), and highlights further suggestions for improved harmonization in future studies.

AB - Phthalates are mainly used as plasticizers and are associated inter alia with adverse effects on reproductive functions. While more and more national programs in Europe have started monitoring internal exposure to phthalates and its substitute 1,2-Cyclohexanedicarboxylic acid (DINCH), the comparability of results from such existing human biomonitoring (HBM) studies across Europe is challenging. They differ widely in time periods, study samples, degree of geographical coverage, design, analytical methodology, biomarker selection, and analytical quality assurance level. The HBM4EU initiative has gathered existing HBM data of 29 studies from participating countries, covering all European regions and Israel. The data were prepared and aggregated by a harmonized procedure with the aim to describe—as comparably as possible—the EU-wide general population’s internal exposure to phthalates from the years 2005 to 2019. Most data were available from Northern (up to 6 studies and up to 13 time points), Western (11; 19), and Eastern Europe (9; 12), e.g., allowing for the investigation of time patterns. While the bandwidth of exposure was generally similar, we still observed regional differences for Butyl benzyl phthalate (BBzP), Di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), Di-isononyl phthalate (DiNP), and Di-isobutyl phthalate (DiBP) with pronounced decreases over time in Northern and Western Europe, and to a lesser degree in Eastern Europe. Differences between age groups were visible for Di-n-butyl phthalate (DnBP), where children (3 to 5-year olds and 6 to 11-year olds) had lower urinary concentrations than adolescents (12 to 19-year-olds), who in turn had lower urinary concentrations than adults (20 to 39-year-olds). This study is a step towards making internal exposures to phthalates comparable across countries, although standardized data were not available, targeting European data sets harmonized with respect to data formatting and calculation of aggregated data (such as developed within HBM4EU), and highlights further suggestions for improved harmonization in future studies.

KW - exposure

KW - HBM4EU

KW - human biomonitoring

KW - phthalates

KW - pollutants

U2 - 10.3390/toxics11030241

DO - 10.3390/toxics11030241

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 36977006

AN - SCOPUS:85151149024

VL - 11

JO - Toxics

JF - Toxics

SN - 2305-6304

IS - 3

M1 - 241

ER -