Department of Food Safety/Hygiene and Risk Management, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 70101, Taiwan; Research Center of Environmental Trace Toxic Substances, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 70101, Taiwan.
Department of Food Safety/Hygiene and Risk Management, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 70101, Taiwan; Chemical Biology and Molecular Biophysics Program, Taiwan International Graduate Program (TIGP), Academia Sinica, Taipei 11529, Taiwan; Institute of Biological Chemistry, Academia Sinica, Taipei 11529, Taiwan; Department of Chemistry (Chemical Biology Division), College of Science, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan.
Sci Total Environ. 2021 Sep 10;786:147371. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.147371. Epub 2021 Apr 28.
Phthalate esters (PAEs) are one of the most widely used plasticizers in polymer products and humans are increasingly exposed to them. The constant exposure to PAEs-contained products has raised some concerns against human health. Thus, the impacts of PAEs and their metabolites on human health require a comprehensive study for a better understanding of the associated risks. Here, we attempt to review eight main health effects of PAE exposure according to the most up-to-date studies. We found that epidemiological studies demonstrated a consistent association between PAE exposure (especially DEHP and its metabolites) and a decrease in sperm quality in males and symptom development of ADHD in children. Overall, we found insufficient evidence and lack of consistency of the association between PAE exposure and cardiovascular diseases (hypertension, atherosclerosis, and CHD), thyroid diseases, respiratory diseases, diabetes, obesity, kidney diseases, intelligence performance in children, and other reproductive system-related diseases (anogenital distance, girl precocious puberty, and endometriosis). Future studies (longitudinal and follow-up investigations) need to thoroughly perform in large-scale populations to yield more consistent and powerful results and increase the precision of the association as well as enhance the overall understanding of potential human health risks of PAEs in long-term exposure.
邻苯二甲酸酯（PAEs）是聚合物产品中使用最广泛的增塑剂之一，人类接触它们的情况越来越多。人们对持续接触含有 PAEs 的产品对健康的影响表示担忧。因此，需要对 PAEs 及其代谢物对人类健康的影响进行全面研究，以更好地了解相关风险。在这里，我们根据最新的研究，试图综述 PAE 暴露的 8 种主要健康影响。我们发现，流行病学研究表明，PAE 暴露（尤其是 DEHP 及其代谢物）与男性精子质量下降和儿童注意力缺陷多动障碍（ADHD）症状发展之间存在一致的关联。总体而言，我们发现 PAE 暴露与心血管疾病（高血压、动脉粥样硬化和冠心病）、甲状腺疾病、呼吸系统疾病、糖尿病、肥胖、肾脏疾病、儿童智力表现以及其他与生殖系统相关的疾病（生殖器距离、女孩性早熟和子宫内膜异位症）之间的关联证据不足且缺乏一致性。未来的研究（纵向和随访研究）需要在大规模人群中彻底进行，以产生更一致和有力的结果，并提高关联的准确性，增强对长期暴露于 PAEs 对人类健康潜在风险的整体理解。
