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Occupational exposure to phthalates in relation to gender, consumer practices and body composition

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Abstract

The aim of our work was to find associations between urinary phthalate metabolite concentrations and occupation, consumer practices and body composition. We divided our cohort (n = 129) into occupationally exposed subjects, community service workers (group A; n = 45) and workers from plastic industry (group B; n = 35) and group of general population (control group C, n = 49). To estimate levels of five phthalate metabolites, we used high-performance liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry analysis. We found in plastic industry workers compared to community service workers and subjects of the control group significantly higher urinary concentration mono (2-ethyl-5-hydroxyhexyl) phthalate (MEHHP), mono (2-ethyl-5-oxohexyl) phthalate (MEOHP), mono (2-etylhexyl) phthalate (MEHP), sum di-(2-ethyl-5-oxohexyl) phthalate (DEHP), mono-iso-butyl phthalate (MiBP) and mono-n-butyl phthalate (MnBP). We identified by multivariate analysis of covariance inverse relationship between MEHP and body parameters as waist-to-height ratio, body mass index, waist-to-hip ratio, hip circumference and waist circumference among females, whereas in males, no significant association was found. Results of our study show, despite of variability in terms of occupational exposure to phthalates, that plastic manufactory represents a higher occupational risk in comparison with waste management. The differences in anthropometric parameters between the two occupationally exposed groups and the general population are suggesting a detrimental effect of occupational exposure on body weight homeostasis.

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Acknowledgment

This study was supported by the European Community under the Project no.26220220180: Building Research Centre “AgroBioTech”. We thank Michaela Földesiova for the excellent technical assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Zoology and Anthropology, Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, 949 74, Nitra, Slovakia

    Ida Petrovičová, Branislav Kolena, Miroslava Šidlovská & Tomáš Pilka

  2. Institute of Biophysics, Informatics and Biostatistics, Slovak Medical University, 833 03, Bratislava, Slovakia

    Soňa Wimmerová

  3. Department of Environmental Medicine, Slovak Medical University, 833 03, Bratislava, Slovakia

    Tomáš Trnovec

Authors
  1. Ida Petrovičová
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  2. Branislav Kolena
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  3. Miroslava Šidlovská
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  4. Tomáš Pilka
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  5. Soňa Wimmerová
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  6. Tomáš Trnovec
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Correspondence to Ida Petrovičová.

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All human participants gave written informed consent prior to the study to provide samples of urine during the shift and to complete questionnaires and allow the researchers to take measurements and to process their personal records and data. Participation was voluntary and there was a possibility to withdraw participation at any time during the study. The study received an approval from the Institutional Review Board of the Slovak Medical University.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues

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Petrovičová, I., Kolena, B., Šidlovská, M. et al. Occupational exposure to phthalates in relation to gender, consumer practices and body composition. Environ Sci Pollut Res 23, 24125–24134 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-016-7394-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-016-7394-6

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