孕婦對羥基苯甲酸酯暴露之生物偵測及其對新生兒出生結果之健康影響

Biological monitoring of parabens in pregnant women and the health effects on newborns

目標：對羥基苯甲酸酯具防腐之特性，故常被應用於各式消費產品中，造成民眾暴露機會大增。對羥基苯甲酸酯為已知的環境干擾物質，對於健康之影響，目前結果仍不明確。因此，本研究將建立台灣第一份對羥基苯甲酸酯之暴露資料、探討可能之暴露來源、並了解產前對羥基苯甲酸酯暴露與嬰兒出生指標之相關性。方法：本研究追蹤241位孕婦及其嬰兒、蒐集第三孕期尿液、並使用高效能液相層析串聯四極柱飛行時間式質譜儀檢測尿液中甲基、乙基、丙基、及丁基四種常見之對羥基苯甲酸酯。結果：對羥基苯甲酸酯（甲、乙、丙、丁基）的幾何平均濃度分別是37.3、1.00、3.04、0.84 ng/mL。與國外研究相比，本研究檢測濃度較低。乳液使用頻率及每周蔬菜攝入量較多者，對羥基苯甲酸酯暴露量較高。總對羥基苯甲酸酯高暴露組，對胎兒體重具相關性；乙基對羥基苯甲酸酯高暴露組，對胎兒體長具相關性。結論：本研究為台灣首次對羥基苯甲酸酯之暴露資料。可提供孕婦減少使用含對羥基苯甲酸酯產品之建議，以維護嬰兒健康發展。

Objectives: Parabens are a group of esters of parahydroxybenzoic acid and widely used as antimicrobial preservatives. Human can be easily exposed to them through food additives and personal care products (PCPs). However, epidemiological studies on the adverse effects of paraben are limited. This study was to determine parabens levels in urine of pregnant women in Taiwan for the first time and the growth of newborns. Methods: In this study, pregnant women and their fetuses were followed-up. Maternal urine samples were collected at the third pregnancy trimester. We measured four common parabens (methyl, ethyl, propyl, butyl) in urine extract using off-line solid phase extraction-Ultra performance liquid chromatography- Quadrupole time of-flight mass spectrometer method and the concentrations were adjusted with creatinine. Results: The geometric mean levels of urinary MP, EP, PP, and BP were 37.3, 1.00, 3.04 and 0.84 ng/mL, respectively, which were lower than levels measured in most of other countries. Higher paraben exposure was associated with the frequency of using cosmetics and the weekly vegetable intake. Birth weight was associated with total paraben exposure (p<0.05) and birth length was associated with ethyl paraben exposure (p<0.01). Conclusions: Although the parabens exposures in pregnant women were lower in Taiwan than in western, the exposure may have association with fetus growth. Future study is needed to confirm the causal correlation, and we suggested reducing the use of parabens in PCPs products during pregnancy.