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Reproducibility of urinary bisphenol A concentrations measured during pregnancy in the Generation R Study

Abstract

The potential human health effects of bisphenol A (BPA) exposure are a public health concern. In order to design adequately powered epidemiological studies to address potential health effects, data on the reproducibility of BPA concentration in serial urine specimens taken during pregnancy are needed. To provide additional data on the reproducibility of maternal urine specimens, 80 women in the Generation R Study (Rotterdam, The Netherlands) contributed a spot urine specimen at <18, 18–25, and >25 weeks of pregnancy. Reproducibility, estimated by the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), was 0.32 (95% confidence interval: 0.18–0.46), and, on a creatinine basis, 0.31 (95% confidence interval: 0.16–0.47). Although the ICC observed in the Generation R Study is slightly higher than previous reproducibility studies of BPA, it nevertheless indicates a high degree of within-person variability that presents challenges for designing well-powered epidemiologic studies.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Joe Braun for providing additional results from the EARTH study, and Walter Rogan and Jane Hoppin who provided comments on an earlier draft of the manuscript. We also thank Kelly Thevenet-Morrison who provided programming assistance. This research received support from the Intramural Research Program of the National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the Erasmus Medical Center and Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development (ZonMw), and from NIH grants K12 ES019852 and P30 ES001247.

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Correspondence to Todd A Jusko.

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Jusko, T., Shaw, P., Snijder, C. et al. Reproducibility of urinary bisphenol A concentrations measured during pregnancy in the Generation R Study. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol 24, 532–536 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/jes.2014.23

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