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Vinyl flooring in the home is associated with children’s airborne butylbenzyl phthalate and urinary metabolite concentrations

Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology volume 25, pages 574–579 (2015)Cite this article

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Abstract

Prior studies have shown that vinyl flooring as well as the vinyl-softening plasticizers butylbenzyl phthalate (BBzP) and di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) are associated with asthma and airway inflammation. Although DEHP exposure is primarily dietary, whether home vinyl flooring contributes to indoor air and urinary metabolite concentrations for these two phthalates is unclear. Exposures to BBzP and DEHP were examined in a prospective birth cohort of New York City children (n=239) using: (i) visual observation of potential phthalate containing flooring, (ii) a 2-week home indoor air sample, and (iii) concurrent urinary metabolites in a subset (n=193). The category “vinyl or linoleum” flooring was observed in 135 (56%) of monitored rooms; these rooms had statistically significantly higher indoor air geometric mean concentrations of BBzP (23.9 ng/m3) than rooms with wood or carpet flooring (10.6 ng/m3). Children from homes with “vinyl or linoleum” flooring also had significantly higher urinary BBzP metabolite concentrations than other children. Indoor air BBzP and urinary metabolite concentrations were correlated positively (Spearman’s rho 0.40). By contrast, indoor air DEHP was not associated with flooring type nor with its urinary metabolite concentrations. Vinyl flooring in the home may be an important source of children’s exposure to BBzP via indoor air.

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Acknowledgements

Supported by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences grants R01 ES014393, R01 ES013163, P01 ES09600, R01 ES008977, P30 ES009089, T32 ES007069 and K99 ES023450; the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grants R827027, RD832141, RD834509, and EPA STAR graduate fellowship FP-91712001 (ACJ); the John and Wendy Neu Family Foundation; Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller Fund; and the New York Community Trust. We gratefully acknowledge the technical assistance of M. Silva, E. Samandar, J. Preau, and L. Jia in measuring the urinary concentrations of phthalate metabolites.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Allan C Just

  2. Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health, Columbia University, New York, New York, USA

    Rachel L Miller, Matthew S Perzanowski, Andrew G Rundle, Lori Hoepner, Frederica P Perera & Robin M Whyatt

  3. Division of Pulmonary, Department of Medicine, Allergy, Critical Care, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, New York, USA

    Rachel L Miller & Kyung Hwa Jung

  4. Division of Allergy, Department of Pediatrics, Immunology and Rheumatology, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, New York, USA

    Rachel L Miller

  5. Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, New York, USA

    Andrew G Rundle

  6. Department of Biostatistics, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, New York, USA

    Qixuan Chen

  7. Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, Texas, USA

    David E Camann

  8. National Center for Environmental Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

    Antonia M Calafat

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  1. Allan C Just
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Correspondence to Allan C Just.

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Just, A., Miller, R., Perzanowski, M. et al. Vinyl flooring in the home is associated with children’s airborne butylbenzyl phthalate and urinary metabolite concentrations. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol 25, 574–579 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/jes.2015.4

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