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Within-individual and interlaboratory variability analyses of urinary metabolites measurements of organophosphorus insecticides

Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology volume 30, pages 721–729 (2020)Cite this article

Abstract

Single-spot urine is often used to estimate organophosphorus insecticide (OP) exposure. However, variations of urinary metabolite concentrations during the day are considerable as OP half-lives are short and as diet is their main exposure source. In addition, quality control is indispensable for institutions that analyze these metabolites. This study aimed to clarify (1) adequate frequencies of urine collection for estimating OP exposure and (2) interlaboratory variation in measured concentrations of OP metabolites, dialkylphosphates (DAPs). To quantify intra-individual variations, urine was collected eight times during a period that spanned 5 consecutive days from nine children aged 5–6 years. For interlaboratory variations, 41 spot samples from 14 pregnant women and 13 three-year-old children were used. Intraclass correlation coefficients for the DAPs were moderate but misclassification occurred in > 50% of the surrogate category analyses using single measurements. The misclassification frequency decreased to satisfactory levels when three temporal measurements were conducted. Values of four DAPs measured in the two laboratories correlated well except in the cases of urine samples obtained from two pregnant women. In conclusion, urinary DAPs should be measured from spot urine samples obtained during 3 different days. Sharing matrix-contained standards and quality control samples should minimize interlaboratory variations.

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Acknowledgements

This investigation was conducted as adjunct Study of Japan Environment and Children’s Study (JECS) at the Miyagi and Aichi regional Centers. Although JECS was funded by the Ministry of the Environment, Japan, the findings and conclusions of this article solely represent the authors and are not representative of the official views of the above government. This study was supported by the Environment Research and Technology Development Fund (5–1451) of the Ministry of the Environment, Japan.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, Nagoya City University Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Nagoya, Japan

    Yuki Ito, Naoko Oya, Hirotaka Sato, Takeshi Ebara & Michihiro Kamijima

  2. Department of Medical Technology, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Japan

    Jun Ueyama

  3. Center for Health and Environmental Risk Research, National Institute for Environmental Studies, Tsukuba, Japan

    Shoji F Nakayama & Tomohiko Isobe

  4. Department of Hygiene, School of Medicine, Wakayama Medical University, Wakayama, Japan

    Kouichi Yoshimasu & Kanami Tsuno

  5. Department of Development and Environmental Medicine, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan

    Nozomi Tatsuta & Kunihiko Nakai

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  1. Yuki Ito
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Correspondence to Yuki Ito.

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This study was approved by the Ethical Review Board of the Nagoya City University Graduate School of Medical Sciences.

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Ito, Y., Ueyama, J., Nakayama, S.F. et al. Within-individual and interlaboratory variability analyses of urinary metabolites measurements of organophosphorus insecticides. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol 30, 721–729 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41370-019-0124-7

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