ECEESPE2025 Poster Presentations Environmental Endocrinology (20 abstracts)
Early-life exposure to phthalates and risk assessment in a cohort of healthy mother-infant dyads: a 3-year follow-up study
Viola Trevisani 1 , 2 , Lucia Palandri 2 , 3 , Lisa De Pasquale 3 , Erica Passini 1 , Barbara Predieri 1 , Lorenzo Iughetti 1 , Elena Righi 3 & Laura Lucaccioni 1
1University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences of the Mothers, Children and Adults, Modena, Italy; 2University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Department of Biomedical, Metabolic and Neural Sciences, Modena, Italy; 3University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, PhD program in Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Modena, Italy
JOINT2867
Background: Phthalates (PAEs) are ubiquitous environmental contaminants and recognized endocrine disruptors. PAEs are classified as reproductive toxicants; the extent of their early-life exposure remains limited and not extensively studied. The present study aims to assess perinatal and postnatal PAEs exposure in children (from birth to 36 months) and their mothers (at delivery and after 36 months).
Methods: Single-center, prospective birth-cohort study, assessing PAEs exposure in urine samples at birth (T0), 3(T3), 6(T6), 15(T15), 36(T36) months in children, and at delivery and T36 in mothers. After solid-phase extraction, 8 major PAEs metabolites (MMP, MEP, MnBP, MBzP, MEHP, MEHHP, MEOHP, MCOP) were analyzed by triple Quad LC/MS Mass Spectrometry. We described exposure patterns and estimate daily intake (DI). A risk assessment was performed by calculating risk quotients (RQ) based on EFSA’ Tolerable Daily Intake (TDI) and reference doses for anti-androgenicity (RfD-AA). Hazard Indices (HI) were estimated by applying both the commonly used threshold of 1 and the the recently proposed 0. 1 limit to account for the overall risk of other toxicants co-exposure.
Results: 188 mother-child pairs involved. PAE metabolites were widespread and detected in most urine samples at any time and showed a U-Shaped trend with lowest values at T3 and a progressive increase at the following observation times. The same trend was observed for DI, which in more than 25% of cases exceeded the EFSA threshold, excluding most DIs at T3. When calculating RQ, both RQ-TDI and RQ-RfD-AA showed median values below 1 at each timepoint for every PAE; and mothers presented the lowest quotients at T0. However, different subjects showed valued above the limit as reported in the table.
| T0 | T3 | T6 | T15 | T36 | |||||
| Mothers (n = 186) | Newborns (n = 164) | Infants (n = 115) | Infants (n = 101) | Toddlers (n = 78) | Children (n = 97) | Mothers (n = 98) | |||
| HI-TDI | >1 | 0. 5% | 2% | 0 | 0 | 3% | 2% | 1% | |
| >0. 1 | 6% | 61% | 15% | 28% | 63% | 56% | 20% | ||
| HI-RfD-AA | >1 | 1% | 10% | 1% | 4% | 21% | 26% | 1% | |
| >0. 1 | 31. 6% | 90% | 46% | 69% | 82% | 86% | 67% | ||
Conclusion: Exposure to PAEs appears broad and extensive in early years of life, even for the most toxic compounds banned by the EU in children’s products. Our results showed that, despite European strict legislation, most children and their mothers exceed the newer most conservative risk threshold for antiandrogenic effects. Preventive public health measures to protect vulnerable groups are needed.
Volume 110
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Endocrine Abstracts
ISSN 1470-3947 (print) | ISSN 1479-6848 (online)
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