Use of personal care products during pregnancy in relation to urinary concentrations of select phenols: A longitudinal analysis from the SEPAGES feasibility study

Abstract

Background: Exposure to certain synthetic phenols is of growing concern, in particular among pregnant women, because of their endocrine disrupting nature. Many phenols are still authorized in personal care products (PCP). We aimed to assess if use of PCPs, by pregnant women could influence their urinary concentrations of synthetic phenols.

Methods: We used a panel design with intense urine sample collection. Eight women completed a diary with exact time and use of PCPs in three weeks. We measured the concentrations of phenols (four parabens, bisphenol A and S, two dichlorophenols, triclosan, and benzophenone-3) in 178 urine samples, collected during 7 consecutive days at 3 time points during pregnancy. We characterized PCP use as the total number of PCP applications or as a single PCP use (yes/no) in three time windows (0-6, 6 to 12 and 12 to 24h before each urine sample collection). We used adjusted linear and Tobit regressions to assess associations between PCP use and phenol urinary concentrations.

Results: The total number of PCP applications was positively associated with ethylparaben, propylparaben and butylparaben concentrations. We observed a peak in urinary concentration of ethylparaben, butylparaben and propylparaben at 2.86, 2.55 and 2.67 h since last PCP use, respectively and twelve different types of PCPs were positively associated with at least one of these parabens. The bisphenol S concentration increased by 12.4% (95%CI: confidence interval: 5.9; 19.3) for each additional PCP application in the 12 to 24 time window and use of specific PCPs such as anti-stretchmarks cream, facial cleanser and shower gel. Associations varied by time window.

Conclusion: Our study showed that PCP use was associated with a short-term increase in the urinary concentration of ethylparaben, butylparaben and propylparaben, but not methylparaben. This study also reported a positive association between the use of PCPs and the bisphenol S concentration, a finding that warrants further investigation in cohorts with repeated collection of urine samples and detailed information on PCP use.

Keywords: Benzophenone-3; Bisphenols; Endocrine disruptors; Parabens; Personal care products; Pregnant women.

Figure 1:

Adjusted percent change in phenol urinary concentrations with specific PCP (yes / no) and the total number of PCP applications in the past 0 to 6, 6 to 12 and 12 to 24 hours. Adjustment factors were woman (fixed effect), specific gravity, day and hour of urine sample collection and use of PCP in other windows than the window considered. Only associations with p-value below 5% are displayed

Figure 2:

Adjusted associations between the time elapsed since last use of PCP, modeled using restricted cubic splines with 5 knots, and phenol urinary concentrations. Max: time since last use of PCP (in hours) at which highest predicted concentration was observed Adjustment factors were woman (fixed effect), specific gravity, time and day of urine collection.