TY - JOUR

T1 - Serum phthalate levels and time to pregnancy in couples from Greenland, Poland and Ukraine

AU - Specht, Ina Olmer

AU - Bonde, Jens Peter

AU - Toft, Gunnar

AU - Lindh, Christian H

AU - Jönsson, Bo A G

AU - Jørgensen, Kristian T

PY - 2015

Y1 - 2015

N2 - 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.

AB - 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.

KW - Adult

KW - Cohort Studies

KW - Diethylhexyl Phthalate

KW - Endocrine Disruptors

KW - Environmental Exposure

KW - Environmental Pollutants

KW - Family Characteristics

KW - Female

KW - Greenland

KW - Humans

KW - Male

KW - Phthalic Acids

KW - Poland

KW - Pregnancy

KW - Proportional Hazards Models

KW - Semen Analysis

KW - Testosterone

KW - Time-to-Pregnancy

KW - Ukraine

U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0120070

DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0120070

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 25786246

VL - 10

SP - 1

EP - 14

JO - PLoS ONE

JF - PLoS ONE

SN - 1932-6203

IS - 3

M1 - e0120070

ER -