Phthalate esters, parabens and bisphenol-A exposure among mothers and their children in Greece (Rhea cohort)

Exposure to endocrine disruptors, used as additives, preservatives, plasticisers and solvents in numerous consumer products, might cause adverse health effects. Humans exposed to these chemicals, metabolise and excrete them mostly via urine. Urinary metabolite concentrations are used as biomarkers of exposure. We evaluated the exposure of 4-month pregnant women and their children at 2 years of age to phthalates, parabens and bisphenol-A. Concentrations of eight phthalate metabolites, six parabens and bisphenol-A were measured in 239 mother-child pairs of the “Rhea” cohort in Greece. Concentration levels in mother and children were comparable with corresponding concentrations in other countries worldwide. Low Spearman correlation coefficients (CC 0.1-0.2, p-value < 0.01) were observed for di-ethyl phthalate (DEP), di-n-butyl phthalate (DnBP), butyl-benzyl phthalate (BBP) and ethyl paraben (EPB) between mothers and their children. We observed higher median daily intake (DIu) for mothers (e.g. di-ethyl phthalate 6.9 μg d− 1 kg− 1) than for their children (1.4 μg d− 1 kg− 1) for all examined compounds, except for di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) and bisphenol-A. Principal component analysis (PCA) indicated two main sources of exposure (plastic related and personal care-hygiene products) for phthalates, parabens and bisphenol-A. Differences in DEHP metabolism were observed among mothers-children and female-male children.