Longitudinal association of prepubertal urinary phthalate metabolite concentrations with pubertal progression among a cohort of boys

Background: Epidemiological studies have reported associations of anti-androgenic phthalate metabolite concentrations with later onset of male puberty, but few have assessed associations with progression. Objectives: We examined the association of prepubertal urinary phthalate metabolite concentrations with trajectories of pubertal progression among Russian boys. Methods: At enrollment (ages 8-9 years), medical history, dietary, and demographic information were collected. At entry and annually to age 19 years, physical examinations including testicular volume (TV) were performed and spot urines collected. Each boy's prepubertal urine samples were pooled, and 15 phthalate metabolites were quantified by isotope dilution LC-MS/MS at Moscow State University. Metabolites of anti-androgenic parent phthalates were included: butylbenzyl (BBzP), di-n-butyl (DnBP), diisobutyl (DiBP), di(2-ethylhexyl) (DEHP) and diisononyl (DiNP) phthalates. We calculated the molar sums of DEHP, DiNP, and all AAP metabolites. We used group-based trajectory models (GBTMs) to identify subgroups of boys who followed similar pubertal trajectories from ages 8-19 years based on annual TV. We used multinomial and ordinal regression models to evaluate whether prepubertal log-transformed phthalate metabolite concentrations were associated with slower or faster pubertal progression trajectories, adjusting for covariates.

Automated summary

A study on Russian boys found that prepubertal urinary phthalate metabolite concentrations were associated with trajectories of pubertal progression. By collecting and analyzing demographic information and urine samples from boys aged 8-19, it was found that certain phthalate metabolite concentrations were associated with slower or faster pubertal progression trajectories.