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Gender- and Age-Specific Relationships Between Phthalate Exposures and Obesity in Shanghai Adults

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Abstract

Phthalate exposure has been reported to be associated with obesity (measured by body mass index [BMI]) and central obesity (measured by waist circumference [WC]). Yet, reported associations and the potential gender and age differences are inconsistent. We conducted a cross-sectional study involving 2330 participants in the fall of 2012. Urinary metabolites of ten phthalates were measured. Height, body weight, and waist circumference (WC) were measured using standardized methods. We performed logistic regression analyses to estimate the association between each urine phthalate metabolite (categorized into quartiles) and obesity and central obesity and conducted an additional, stratified analysis to explore the gender and age differences. In the overall study population, higher urinary levels of MMP, MEHHP, and MECPP were associated with increased ratios of central obesity. When stratifying by gender and central obesity, higher urinary levels of MMP, MEHHP, and MEOHP were associated with increased odds of central obesity in females, whereas MBzP was significantly associated inversely with central obesity in females. In males, it showed no significant P value for trend (P trend). When stratifying by age in females, higher urinary levels of MEHP, MEOHP, MEHHP, and MECPP were associated with increased odds of central obesity in women aged ≤45 years. In females aged >45 years, it showed no significant P trend. In conclusion, we found that association between phthalates and central obesity was stronger than between phthalates and obesity; association between phthalates and central obesity was stronger in females than in males and was stronger in younger females (aged ≤45 years) than in older females (aged >45 years).

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Funding

This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (No. 2016YFD0400602) and a fund from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81202208).

Author’s contributions

SL and BC contributed to conception and study design; RD, HZ, MZ, JC, and LZ contributed to acquisition of data; RD, TZ, and MW performed data analysis; RD, LZ, and BC contributed to interpretation of data; RD, LZ, and BC contributed to manuscript writing, and LZ, SL, and BC critically revised the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Public Health Safety of Ministry of Education, School of Public Health, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200032, China

    Ruihua Dong, Jingsi Chen, Meiru Zhang, Han Zhang, Min Wu, Shuguang Li & Bo Chen

  2. Gynecology and Obstetrics, Shanghai Fifth Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200240, China

    Tong Zhou & Liwen Zhang

Authors
  1. Ruihua Dong
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  2. Tong Zhou
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  3. Jingsi Chen
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  4. Meiru Zhang
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  5. Han Zhang
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  6. Min Wu
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  7. Shuguang Li
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  8. Liwen Zhang
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  9. Bo Chen
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Liwen Zhang or Bo Chen.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethics Approval and Consent to Participate

All subjects submitted written, informed consent before their participation in the survey. The study was approved by the local authorities and the Ethics Committee of School of Public Health at Fudan University (IRB#2011-03-0264).

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Dong, R., Zhou, T., Chen, J. et al. Gender- and Age-Specific Relationships Between Phthalate Exposures and Obesity in Shanghai Adults. Arch Environ Contam Toxicol 73, 431–441 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00244-017-0441-6

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