Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, College of Human Medicine, Michigan State University, 909 Wilson Road, Room 601, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA.
Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, NY, 10032, USA.
Curr Environ Health Rep. 2022 Mar;9(1):38-52. doi: 10.1007/s40572-022-00331-1. Epub 2022 Mar 17.
Menstrual bleeding is a regular, common occurrence in a substantial portion of the population. Menstruators may use more than 10,000 menstrual products over the lifetime. Given the potential for environmental chemicals in menstrual products to be absorbed by the vulvar and vaginal epithelium into systemic circulation, we reviewed the available data on menstrual products as a source of environmental chemical exposure.
Nearly two dozen studies have been conducted measuring environmental contaminants in menstrual products; all have detected environmental chemicals but had discrepant conclusions on exposure risks. Only three human studies have investigated menstrual product use and environmental chemical concentrations and all observed associations. Detection of environmental chemicals in menstrual products, in combination with challenges of exposure assessment, scarcity of human studies, and the exceedingly common occurrence of menstrual bleeding, motivates the need for further research. We provide recommendations to move this field forward.
月经出血是相当一部分人群中一种常见的生理现象。女性一生中可能会使用一万多个卫生巾。鉴于卫生棉条和卫生巾中潜在的环境化学物质可能通过外阴和阴道上皮被吸收进入体循环，我们对作为环境化学物质暴露源的卫生棉条和卫生巾进行了综述。
近二十项研究测量了卫生棉条和卫生巾中的环境污染物；所有研究均检测到了环境化学物质，但对暴露风险的结论却不一致。仅有三项人体研究调查了卫生棉条和卫生巾的使用情况以及环境化学物质浓度，所有研究都观察到了关联。卫生棉条和卫生巾中检测到的环境化学物质，再加上接触评估的挑战、人体研究的稀缺性，以及月经出血极其常见，这一切都促使我们需要开展更多的研究。我们提出了一些建议来推动该领域的发展。
