Phthalate exposure and its effects on onset of puberty

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26670321
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Hygiene and public health
• Research Institution: Hokkaido University
• Principal Investigator: Araki Atsuko 北海道大学, 環境健康科学研究教育センター, 准教授 (00619885)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): KISHI Reiko 北海道大学, 環境健康科学研究教育センター, 特別招へい教授 (80112449)
• Research Collaborator: AITBAMAI Yu 北海道大学, 環境健康科学研究教育センター, 特任助教 (90752907)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 環境 / 衛生 / フタル酸エステル / 第二次性徴 / 性ホルモン

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Phthalates are ubiquitous environmental chemicals, which are widely used as plasticizes. Humans are exposed to phthalates since fetal life, and their endocrine disrupting properties has been concerned. However, prenatal exposure to phahalates and their effects on fetus onset of puberty in human are not well known. In this study, onset of puberty were examined among children registered to Sapporo cohort, the Hokkaido Study. Among those approached, 150 (45.6%) responded. Total effects of MEHP (primary metabolite of the most widely used phthalate, DEHP) levels in maternal blood was significantly positively associated with onset of puberty; natural log increase of MEHP (app. 2.67), onset of puberty delayed 7.17（95%CI：2.89-11.5）months among boys. Although progesterone and inhibin B were inversely associated with MEHP, none of hormones showed indirect effect of MEHP to onset of puberty. Girls did not show any association between MEHP, hormones, or onset of puberty.

Free Research Field

衛生学、公衆衛生学