Korean J Obstet Gynecol.  2011 Mar;54(3):140-146. 10.5468/KJOG.2011.54.3.140.

An estimate of phthalate exposure among term pregnant women living in Bucheon: The pilot study

• Kim TH
• Hong YP
• Lee HH
• Chung SH
• Yang YJ
• Kim SY
• Kho YL
• Kim JM

• KMID: 2274028
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.5468/KJOG.2011.54.3.140

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
Phthalates are a group of phthalic acid esters and these are used as plasticizers. Several studies have described phthalate exposure in other countries, but there are no such reports from Korea. We assessed exposure to phthalic acid in the urine of full term pregnant women.
METHODS
There were 32 full term deliveries in our hospital from August, 2009 to April, 2010. We received approval from the Institutional Review Board at our hospital and written informed concept from all the patients. We review the obstetrics history, the history of medical illness and other problems. To assess exposure to different phthalates, we measured the concentrations of nine phthalate metabolites in the spot urine samples collected 24 hours before delivery. The urinary concentrations of 10 phthalate ester metabolites (mono-methyl phthalate [MMP], mono-ethyl phthalate [MEP], mono-n-butyl phthalate [MnBP], mono benzyl phthalate [MBzP], mono-[2-ethylhexyl] phthalate [MEHP], mono-[2-ethyl-5-hydroxyhexyl] phthalate [MEHHP], mono-[2-ethyl-5-oxohexyl] phthalate [MEOHP], mono-isobutyl phthalate [MiBP], mono-[2-ethyl-5-carboxypentyl] phthalate [5cx-MEPP], and mono-[2-carboxymethylhexyl] phthalate [2cx-MMHP]) were analyzed in the spot urine samples collected from the pregnant women. The data is being used as a pilot study for a large multicenter study.
RESULTS
The mean age was 31.1+/-3.2 years. The mean gestational age was 38.4+/-1.3 weeks. The creatinine-corrected concentration (geometric mean: microg/g Cr) was 1.754 (MMP), 3.443 (MEP), 3.839 (MnBP), 2.721 (MBzP), 2.437 (MEHP), 4.042 (MEHHP), 3.504 (MEOHP), 2.805 (MiBP), 3.765 (5cx-MEPP), and 3.775 (2cx-MMHP).
CONCLUSION
Our data reflects a preliminary description of pregnant women's exposure, before delivery, to phthalates. So, a prospective multicenter study is needed to evaluate phthalate exposure based on our data.

Keyword

Phthalate; Phthalic acid; Term pregnancy

MeSH Terms

Esters
Ethics Committees, Research
Female
Gestational Age
Humans
Korea
Obstetrics
Phthalic Acids
Pilot Projects
Plasticizers
Plastics
Pregnant Women
Esters
Phthalic Acids
Plasticizers
Plastics

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