Health risk assessment of exposure to phthalates among children

Objective To measure the urine levels of phthalate (PAE) metabolites in children, and assess the health risk of exposure to PAEs among children.

Methods Urine samples were collected from 202 first-grade students, and high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry was used to measure the urine levels of 8 PAE metabolites, i.e., mono(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (MEHP), mono(2-ethyl-5-hydroxyhexyl) phthalate (MEHHP), mono(2-ethyl-5-oxohexyl) phthalate (MEOHP), monobutyl phthalate (MBP), monoethyl phthalate (MEP), monomethyl phthalate (MMP), monobenzyl phthalate (MBzP), and mono-n-octyl phthalate (MOP). Then the health risk of exposure to PAEs were assessed based on the known biomonitoring equivalent (BE) and the concentrations of the above metabolites in urine.

Results MEHP, MEOHP, MEHHP and MBP had a detection rate of >90%. BE analysis showed that the hazard index (HI) of developmental toxic effects was < 1.0 among all students, the HI of reproductive toxic effects of DBP metabolites was >1.0 in 46% of the students, and the HI of hepatotoxicity of DEHP metabolites was >1.0 in 10% of all girls.

Conclusion Exposure to PAEs has the potential risks of reproductive impairment and liver injury among the first-grade students in this school.