Temporal Variability in Urinary Phthalate Metabolite Excretion Based on Spot, Morning, and 24-h Urine Samples: Considerations for Epidemiological Studies

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Urinary phthalate excretion is used as a marker of phthalate exposure in epidemiological studies. During the present study, the authors examined the reliability of urinary phthalate levels in exposure classification by comparing the inter- and intrasubject variation of urinary phthalate metabolite levels. Thirty-three young healthy men each collected two spot, three first-morning, and three 24-h urine samples during a 3-month period. Samples were analysed for the content of 12 urinary metabolites of 7 different phthalates. Variability was assessed as intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC). For the metabolites of diethyl-, dibutyl-, and butylbenzyl-phthalates moderate ICCs were observed in all three sample types, albeit highest in 24-h urine (0.51-0.59). For the metabolites of di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate and di-iso-nonyl phthalates lower ICCs (0.06-0.29) were found. These low ICCs indicate a high risk of misclassification of exposures for these two phthalates in population studies and hence an attenuation of the power to detect possible exposure-outcome associations. The only slightly higher ICCs for 24-h pools compared to first-morning and spot urine samples does not seem to justify the extra effort needed to collect 24-h pools.

Authors: Frederiksen, Hanne; Kranich, Selma K.; Joergensen, Niels; Taboureau, Olivier; Petersen, Joergen H.; Andersson, Anna-Maria ;Full Source: Environmental Science & Technology [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][online computer file] 2013, 47(2), 958-967 (Eng) ;

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