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Phthalate levels in indoor dust and associations to croup in the SELMA study

Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology volume 31, pages 257–265 (2021)Cite this article

Abstract

Phthalates are ubiquitous indoor pollutants which have been associated with child airway disease although results are inconclusive. This study examined associations between phthalate levels in residential indoor dust and croup during infancy. Settled indoor dust was collected in 482 homes of 6-month-old infants in the Swedish Environmental Longitudinal, Mother and child, Asthma and allergy (SELMA) study and analysed for seven phthalates and one phthalate replacement using gas chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. The incidence of parental reported croup at 12 months was 6.4% for girls and 13.4% for boys. Associations between phthalate dust levels and croup were analysed by logistic regression adjusted for potential confounders. We found significant associations between di-ethyl phthalate (DEP) and di-ethyl-hexyl phthalate (DEHP) in residential dust and parental reported croup (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 1.71; 95% CI: 1.08–2.73 and 2.07; 1.00–4.30, respectively). Stratified results for boys showed significant associations between DEP and butyl-benzyl phthalate (BBzP) in dust and infant croup (aOR = 1.86; 95% CI: 1.04–3.34 and 2.02; 1.04–3.90, respectively). Results for girls had questionable statistical power due to few cases. Our results suggest that exposure to phthalates in dust is a risk factor for airway inflammatory responses in infant children.

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Fig. 1: Associations between seven phthalates and DiNCH dust levels and croup at 12 months expressed as adjusted odds ratios and 95% CI, for all children and stratified by sex.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank all the participating families.

Funding

This study was funded by grants from the Swedish Research Council for Environment, Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning (Formas), the Swedish Foundation for Health Care Sciences and Allergy Research, Swedish Asthma and Allergy Association’s Research Foundation, and the County Council of Värmland.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Health Sciences, Karlstad University, Karlstad, Sweden

    Anna-Sofia Preece, Huan Shu, Malin Knutz & Carl-Gustaf Bornehag

  2. Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Lund University, Lund, Sweden

    Annette M. Krais

  3. School of Medical Science, Örebro University, Örebro, Sweden

    Sverre Wikström

  4. Department of Preventive Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City, New York, USA

    Carl-Gustaf Bornehag

Authors
  1. Anna-Sofia Preece
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Correspondence to Carl-Gustaf Bornehag.

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Preece, AS., Shu, H., Knutz, M. et al. Phthalate levels in indoor dust and associations to croup in the SELMA study. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol 31, 257–265 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41370-020-00264-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41370-020-00264-7

Keywords

  • Croup
  • Dust
  • Exposure
  • Phthalate
  • SELMA study

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