Department of Epidemiology, Geisel School of Medicine Dartmouth College, Lebanon, NH, 03756, USA.
Department of Epidemiology, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA.
Curr Environ Health Rep. 2019 Dec;6(4):201-213. doi: 10.1007/s40572-019-00258-0.
Organophosphate esters (OPEs) are applied to a variety of consumer products, primarily as flame retardants and plasticizers. OPEs can leach out of products over time and are consequently prevalent in the environment and frequently detected in human biomonitoring studies. Exposure during pregnancy is of particular concern as OPEs have recently been detected in placental tissues, suggesting they may be transferred to the developing infant. Also, studies have now shown that children typically experience higher exposure to several OPEs compared with adults, indicating they may be disproportionately impacted by these compounds. This review summarizes the current literature on reproductive and child health outcomes of OPE exposures and highlights areas for future research.
Experimental animal studies demonstrate potential for OPEs to adversely impact health, and a limited number of epidemiologic studies conducted in adult cohorts suggest that OPEs may interfere with the endocrine system. Neurodevelopment is perhaps the most well studied of children's health endpoints, and several studies indicate that prenatal and early life OPE exposures impact both cognitive and behavioral development. Associations have also been reported with reproductive outcomes (e.g., fertilization and pregnancy loss) and with the timing of parturition and preterm birth. Cross-sectional studies also demonstrate associations between OPEs and respiratory health outcomes, allergic disease, and measures of adiposity. An expanding body of research demonstrates that OPEs are associated with adverse reproductive health and birth outcomes, asthma and allergic disease, early growth and adiposity, and neurodevelopment. Still, additional research is urgently needed to elucidate the full impact of OPEs on children's health.
有机磷酸酯（OPEs）被广泛应用于各种消费品，主要作为阻燃剂和增塑剂。OPEs 会随着时间从产品中浸出，因此在环境中普遍存在，并且经常在人体生物监测研究中检测到。妊娠期间的暴露尤其令人关注，因为最近在胎盘组织中检测到 OPEs，这表明它们可能会转移到发育中的婴儿身上。此外，研究表明，与成年人相比，儿童通常会接触到更高水平的几种 OPEs，这表明他们可能会受到这些化合物的不成比例的影响。本综述总结了 OPE 暴露对生殖和儿童健康影响的当前文献，并强调了未来研究的领域。
实验动物研究表明 OPEs 可能对健康产生不利影响，少数在成人队列中进行的流行病学研究表明，OPEs 可能干扰内分泌系统。神经发育是儿童健康终点中研究最多的领域之一，几项研究表明，产前和生命早期的 OPE 暴露会影响认知和行为发育。也有研究报告称，OPE 暴露与生殖结局（如受精和妊娠丢失）以及分娩和早产时间有关。横断面研究还表明，OPEs 与呼吸道健康结局、过敏性疾病以及肥胖指标之间存在关联。越来越多的研究表明，OPEs 与不良生殖健康和出生结局、哮喘和过敏性疾病、早期生长和肥胖以及神经发育有关。尽管如此，仍迫切需要开展更多的研究来阐明 OPEs 对儿童健康的全面影响。
