Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Serum phthalate levels and time to pregnancy in couples from greenland, poland and ukraine.

Specht, Ina Olmer ; Bonde, Jens Peter ; Toft, Gunnar ; Lindh, Christian LU orcid ; Jönsson, Bo A LU and Jørgensen, Kristian T (2015) In PLoS ONE 10(3).
Abstract
Phthalates are ubiquitous industrial chemicals that have been associated with altered reproductive function in rodents. Several human studies have reported an inverse association between male testosterone and phthalate levels. Our aim was to investigate time to pregnancy (TTP) according to serum levels of diethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) and diisononyl phthalate (DiNP) metabolites in both partners. In 2002-2004 we enrolled 938 pregnant women and 401 male spouses from Greenland, Poland and Ukraine. Six oxidized metabolites of DEHP and DiNP were summarized for each of the two parent compounds to provide proxies of the internal exposure. We used Cox discrete-time models to estimate fecundability ratios (FR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs)... (More)
Phthalates are ubiquitous industrial chemicals that have been associated with altered reproductive function in rodents. Several human studies have reported an inverse association between male testosterone and phthalate levels. Our aim was to investigate time to pregnancy (TTP) according to serum levels of diethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) and diisononyl phthalate (DiNP) metabolites in both partners. In 2002-2004 we enrolled 938 pregnant women and 401 male spouses from Greenland, Poland and Ukraine. Six oxidized metabolites of DEHP and DiNP were summarized for each of the two parent compounds to provide proxies of the internal exposure. We used Cox discrete-time models to estimate fecundability ratios (FR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) for men and women according to their proxy-DEHP or -DiNP serum levels adjusted for a fixed set of covariates. The FR was slightly elevated among women with high levels of DEHP (FR=1.14, 95% CI 1.00;1.30) suggesting a shorter TTP in these women. The FR was unrelated to DiNP in women, whereas the results for men were inconsistent pointing in opposite directions. First-time pregnant women from Greenland with high serum DiNP levels had a longer TTP. This study spanning large contrast in environmental exposure does not indicate adverse effects of phthalates on couple fecundity. The shorter TTP in women with high levels of DEHP metabolites is unexplained and needs further investigation. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
PLoS ONE
volume
10
issue
3
article number
e0120070
publisher
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
external identifiers
  • pmid:25786246
  • wos:000352138500153
  • scopus:84925438707
  • pmid:25786246
ISSN
1932-6203
DOI
10.1371/journal.pone.0120070
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
3c7bada8-2ea9-42d7-9837-cb0c1b65421f (old id 5258193)
alternative location
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25786246?dopt=Abstract
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 13:59:01
date last changed
2022-01-27 22:11:32
@article{3c7bada8-2ea9-42d7-9837-cb0c1b65421f,
  abstract     = {{Phthalates are ubiquitous industrial chemicals that have been associated with altered reproductive function in rodents. Several human studies have reported an inverse association between male testosterone and phthalate levels. Our aim was to investigate time to pregnancy (TTP) according to serum levels of diethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) and diisononyl phthalate (DiNP) metabolites in both partners. In 2002-2004 we enrolled 938 pregnant women and 401 male spouses from Greenland, Poland and Ukraine. Six oxidized metabolites of DEHP and DiNP were summarized for each of the two parent compounds to provide proxies of the internal exposure. We used Cox discrete-time models to estimate fecundability ratios (FR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) for men and women according to their proxy-DEHP or -DiNP serum levels adjusted for a fixed set of covariates. The FR was slightly elevated among women with high levels of DEHP (FR=1.14, 95% CI 1.00;1.30) suggesting a shorter TTP in these women. The FR was unrelated to DiNP in women, whereas the results for men were inconsistent pointing in opposite directions. First-time pregnant women from Greenland with high serum DiNP levels had a longer TTP. This study spanning large contrast in environmental exposure does not indicate adverse effects of phthalates on couple fecundity. The shorter TTP in women with high levels of DEHP metabolites is unexplained and needs further investigation.}},
  author       = {{Specht, Ina Olmer and Bonde, Jens Peter and Toft, Gunnar and Lindh, Christian and Jönsson, Bo A and Jørgensen, Kristian T}},
  issn         = {{1932-6203}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{3}},
  publisher    = {{Public Library of Science (PLoS)}},
  series       = {{PLoS ONE}},
  title        = {{Serum phthalate levels and time to pregnancy in couples from greenland, poland and ukraine.}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/3708534/8255499}},
  doi          = {{10.1371/journal.pone.0120070}},
  volume       = {{10}},
  year         = {{2015}},
}