Women’s Health
Recent and Chronic Exposure to Personal Care Products and Urinary Biomarker Concentrations of Non-persistent Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals in the Study of Environment, Lifestyle and Fibroids Angela L. Jeffers* Angela Jeffers Caroll A. Co Samantha Schildroth Lauren A. Wise Quaker E. Harmon Donna D. Baird Kyla W. Taylor
Background: Exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), such as parabens, phthalates, and phenols, through personal care products (PCPs) has been linked to adverse health effects. Using data from the Study of Environment, Lifestyle and Fibroids, we conducted an untargeted analysis to assess the association between urinary biomarkers of 31 EDCs and self-reported recent (24-hour) and chronic (12-month) PCP use.
Methods: EDC biomarker data were available for 434 individuals with a secondary follow-up visit from 2014-2016. We applied dimension reduction using variable clustering to 25 biomarkers with >70% of values above the limit of detection. Associations between levels of PCP use and individual EDC biomarkers were assessed using an unadjusted lognormal accelerated failure time (AFT) model with a significance threshold of α=.01. Separate AFT models were fitted for each PCP-metabolite pair, with both chronic and recent PCP use treated as categorical variables.
Results: Clustering of 25 EDC biomarkers identified 9 distinct clusters. The parabens, monoethyl phthalate, and benzophenone-3 (BP3) cluster was associated with chronic sunscreen, face/body/hand/fade cream, foundation, and eye makeup use; triclosan to chronic face/hand cream use; and dibutyl and monobenzyl phthalates with chronic and recent douching. Di-isononyl phthalate metabolites were associated with chronic nail polish use, while alternative phthalates were associated with chronic foundation and shellac use. Recent makeup use was associated with higher BP3 and paraben levels. Recent condom use was associated with higher di-isobutyl phthalate metabolites.
Conclusions: Our findings suggest that EDC biomarkers cluster by parent compound and associations between EDC biomarkers and PCP use are influenced by factors such as product type and frequency of use. Habitual PCP use may be necessary for significant biomarker accumulation, emphasizing the importance of biomarker collection timing and frequency of use.