Socioeconomic status in the associations between use of personal care products and exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals in pregnant Taiwanese women

Alexander Waits ¹ Chia-Huang Chang ² Yu-Fang Huang ³ MIng-Song Tsai ⁴ Jia-Woei Hou ⁴ Pei-Wei Wang ⁵ Chih-Yao Chen ⁶ Chia-Jung Hsieh ⁷ Ming-Tsang Wu ⁸ Shu-Li Julie Wang ⁹ Mei-Lien Chen ^3*

• ¹ Institute of Public Health, School of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan
• ² College of Public Health, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taipei County, Taiwan
• ³ Institute of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, School of Medicine, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei, Taiwan
• ⁴ Cathay General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
• ⁵ Taipei City Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
• ⁶ Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taipei County, Taiwan
• ⁷ Department of Public Health, Tzu Chi University, Hualien, Taiwan
• ⁸ Research Center for Precision Environmental Medicine, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
• ⁹ National Institute of Environmental Health Science, National Health Research Institutes, Zhunan, Taiwan

Background: Maternal exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) found in personal care products (PCPs) may affect child development. Socioeconomic inequalities in EDCs exposure have been suggested for further investigation. This study assessed the role of income and education in associations between PCP use and exposure to bisphenol A (BPA) and parabens in pregnant women. Methods: Associations between PCP use and urinary concentrations of BPA and four parabens in pregnant women from Taiwan Maternal and Infant Cohort Study were estimated with linear regression, expressed as percentage change in concentrations for each additional PCP use per week. The analysis was stratified by income and education and predicted concentrations and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were graphed according to the frequency of PCP use.Results: Higher concentrations of methylparaben, ethylparaben and propylparaben were associated with more frequent use of different PCP, especially make-up. The above-lowest income group showed positive associations between frequency use of rinse-off PCP and methylparaben (2.5%, 95%CI= 0.9%, 4.0%), propylparaben (2.8%, 95%CI= 0.3%, 5.3%); and between leave-on PCP and methylparaben (3.1%, 95%CI= 1.8%, 4.4%), ethylparaben (2.2%, 95%CI= 0.1%, 4.2%), propylparaben (2.8%, 95%CI=0.8%, 4.9%). BPA was negatively associated with rinse-off PCP (-1.2%, 95%CI=-2.3%, -0.2%). Positive association between leave-on PCP and BPA was suggested in the lowest-income group (1.7%, 95%CI=-0.4%, 3.7%).Predicted BPA concentrations were significantly higher in the lowest-income group at higher frequencies of PCP use. Stratification by education showed the strongest associations in the postgraduate group for rinse-off PCP with methylparaben (6.1%, 95%CI= 1.9%, 10.5%) and propylparaben (6.9%, 95%CI= 1.2%, 12.9%), and for the leave-on PCP with methylparaben (4.1%, 95%CI= 1.2%, 7.2%).The reported associations between various PCP and parabens suggest less frequent use of some PCP in pregnant women to reduce parabens exposure. Higher levels of BPA in the lowest-income group requires further investigation of sources for BPA exposure, especially in disadvantaged populations.