| Summary: | 碩士 === 國防醫學院 === 公共衛生學研究所 === 106 === Background: Phthalates (PAEs), which may have potential adverse health effects, are widely used in industrial and consumer products. The public raised concerns of exposure to PAEs after di-2-ethylhexyl PAE (DEHP) had been illegally used in food products in Taiwan in 2011. However, there is little information regarding the exposure levels of PAEs and the associations between exposure to PAEs and metabolic syndrome (MetS) among Taiwanese military personnel.
Objective: Health risk assessment indicators, including daily intake (DI), hazard quotient (HQ), and hazard index (HI), were used to assess the distribution and trends of PAEs and cumulative risk as well as explore the associations between PAEs and metabolic syndrome (MetS) in Taiwan military personnel.
Methods and Materials: We recruited 435 participants who participated in northern voluntary military service from August to October 2017. We calculated the DI of five PAEs, namely dimethyl PAE (DMP), diethyl PAE (DEP), dibutyl PAE (DBP), benzyl butyl phthalate (BBzP), and DEHP, and selected the reference dose (RfD) described by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as an acceptable exposure reference value to compute the HQ and HI. We used statistical analysis to examine the differences and trends of PAE metabolites in urine and investigated the possible primary sources of PAEs with principle component analysis as well as the associations between PAEs and MetS.
Results: All DIs, HQRfDs, and HIRfDs were not over the standard EPA RfD. For all participants, two principal components (PC) were extracted. Three DEHP metabolites and MBP were correlated with PC1, and MiBP and MnBP were correlated with PC2. Overall, odds ratios (ORs) for the prevalence of abdominal obesity in the high DI group of BBzP and the high HIRfD group were 1.758 (95% CI: 1.147, 2.696) and 1.668 (95% CI: 1.089, 2.556), respectively. Compared with the reference groups, ORs for the prevalence of high blood pressure, hypertriglycemia, and MetS in the high DI group of DMP were 2.058 (95% CI: 1.333, 3.178), 2.086 (95% CI: 1.252, 3.477), and 2.419 (95% CI: 1.314, 4.451), respectively.
Conclusions: Exposure to PAEs could be associated with the increased prevalence of MetS in the military. Future research is needed to confirm these associations and elucidate the biological mechanisms.
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