Elsevier

Environmental Pollution

Volume 309, 15 September 2022, 119745
Environmental Pollution

Associations of maternal urinary bisphenol and phthalate concentrations with offspring reproductive development

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2022.119745Get rights and content
Under a Creative Commons license
open access

Highlights

  • Higher fetal bisphenol and phthalate exposure might alter reproductive development.

  • In girls, higher fetal exposure was associated with earlier pubic hair development.

  • In boys, higher fetal exposure was associated with earlier pubertal development and larger testis.

  • Fetal bisphenol and phthalate exposure might be associated with long-term reproductive health effects.

Abstract

Fetal exposure to bisphenols and phthalates may influence development of the reproductive system. In a population-based, prospective cohort study of 1059 mother-child pairs, we examined the associations of maternal gestational urinary bisphenols and phthalates concentrations with offspring reproductive development from infancy until 13 years. We measured urinary bisphenol and phthalate concentrations in each trimester. We obtained information on cryptorchidism or hypospadias after birth from medical records. At 9.7 years, we measured testicular and ovarian volume by MRI. At 13.5 years, we measured child Tanner stages and menstruation through questionnaire. We performed linear or logistic regression models for boys and girls to assess the associations of maternal urinary average and trimester-specific bisphenols and phthalates with child reproductive outcomes. Next, to further explore potential synergistic or additive effects of exposures together, we performed mixed exposure models using a quantile g computation approach. Models were adjusted for maternal age, ethnicity, body-mass index, education, parity, energy intake, smoking and alcohol use, and child's gestational age at birth, birthweight and body-mass index. In boys, no associations of maternal gestational phthalate or bisphenol with offspring cryptorchidism and hypospadias were found. Higher maternal high-molecular-weight phthalate and total bisphenol, but not phthalic acid or low-molecular-weight phthalate, were associated with larger child testicular volume at 10 years. Higher maternal phthalic acid and total bisphenol were associated with earlier genital and pubic hair development at 13 years, respectively (p-values<0.05). In girls, we found no associations of maternal urinary bisphenol and phthalate with ovarian volume or menstrual age. Only higher maternal urinary high-molecular-weight phthalate was associated with earlier pubic hair development at 13 years (p-values <0.05). Higher mixture exposure was associated with earlier pubic hair development in both sexes. In conclusion, higher maternal gestational urinary bisphenol and phthalate concentrations were associated with alterations in offspring reproductive development, mainly in boys.

Keywords

Bisphenols
Phthalates
Puberty
Reproductive development
Pregnancy

Data availability

Data will be made available on request.

Cited by (0)

This paper has been recommended for acceptance by Dr Mingliang Fang.

1

Authors contributed equally.