- Full (HTML) - Full (PDF) - Related EHP Articles - PubMed:Related Articles - PubMed:Citation - Cited in PMC - Purchase This Issue

Johan Högberg,¹ Annika Hanberg,¹ Marika Berglund,¹ Staffan Skerfving,² Mikael Remberger,³ Antonia M. Calafat,⁴ Agneta Falk Filipsson,¹ Bo Jansson,⁵ Niklas Johansson,^1,6 Malin Appelgren,¹ and Helen Håkansson¹

¹Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; ²Section of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, University Hospital of Lund, Sweden; ³IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute Ltd., Stockholm, Sweden; ⁴Division of Laboratory Sciences, National Centre for Environmental Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA; ⁵Department of Applied Environmental Sciences, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden; ⁶Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, Stockholm, Sweden

Abstract
Background: Phthalates may pose a risk for perinatal developmental effects. An important question relates to the choice of suitable biological matrices for assessing exposure during this period.

Objectives: This study was designed to measure the concentrations of phthalate diesters or their metabolites in breast milk, blood or serum, and urine and to evaluate their suitability for assessing perinatal exposure to phthalates.

Methods: In 2001, 2–3 weeks after delivery, 42 Swedish primipara provided breast milk, blood, and urine samples at home. Special care was taken to minimize contamination with phthalates (e.g., use of a special breast milk pump, heat treatment of glassware and needles, addition of phosphoric acid) .

Results: Phthalate diesters and metabolites in milk and blood or serum, if detected, were present at concentrations close to the limit of detection. By contrast, most phthalate metabolites were detectable in urine at concentrations comparable to those from the general population in the United States and in Germany. No correlations existed between urine concentrations and those found in milk or blood/serum for single phthalate metabolites. Our data are at odds with a previous study documenting frequent detection and comparatively high concentrations of phthalate metabolites in Finnish and Danish mothers' milk.

Conclusions: Concentrations of phthalate metabolites in urine are more informative than those in milk or serum. Furthermore, collection of milk or blood may be associated with discomfort and potential technical problems such as contamination (unless oxidative metabolites are measured) . Although urine is a suitable matrix for health-related phthalate monitoring, urinary concentrations in nursing mothers cannot be used to estimate exposure to phthalates through milk ingestion by breast-fed infants.

Key words: biomonitoring, blood, breast milk, metabolites, perinatal, phthalates, urine. Environ Health Perspect 116:334–339 (2008) . doi:10.1289/ehp.10788 available via http://dx.doi.org/ [Online 21 December 2007]

Address correspondence to J. Högberg, Karolinska Institutet, Nobels Väg 13, Stockholm, Sweden. Telephone: 46852487503. Fax: 468343849. E-mail: johan.hogberg@ki.se

We thank the mothers, I. Bernsryd, B. Johansson, and A. Olsson for skillful technical assistance ; A. Åberg and E. Randa, at Lund University Hospital ; and M. Silva, A. Herbert, J. Preau, and J. Reidy at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) .

This study was supported by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (Dnr 2789/2001) and the county councils of southern Sweden.

The use of trade names is for identification only and does not constitute endorsement by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services or the CDC. The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of CDC.

The authors declare they have no competing financial interests.

Received 22 August 2007 ; accepted 21 December 2007.