Department of Environmental Hygiene and Occupational Medicine, School of Public Health, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China; Hubei Province Key Laboratory of Occupational Hazard Identification and Control, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China; Key Laboratory of Environment and Health, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Environmental Protection, and State Key Laboratory of Environmental Health (Incubation), School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
Department of Environmental Hygiene and Occupational Medicine, School of Public Health, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China; Hubei Province Key Laboratory of Occupational Hazard Identification and Control, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.
Ecotoxicol Environ Saf. 2024 Apr 15;275:116266. doi: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2024.116266. Epub 2024 Apr 1.
Glyphosate, ranked as one of the most widely used herbicides in the world, has raised concerns about its potential disruptive effects on sex hormones. However, limited human evidence was available, especially for children and adolescents. The present study aimed to examine the associations between exposure to glyphosate and sex hormones among participants aged 6-19 years, utilizing data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) conducted between 2013 and 2016. Children and adolescents who had available data on urinary glyphosate, serum sex steroid hormones, including testosterone (TT), estradiol (E) and sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG), and covariates were selected. Additionally, the ratio of TT to E (TT/E) and the free androgen index (FAI), which was calculated using TT/SHBG, were also included as sex hormone indicators. Survey regression statistical modeling was used to examine the associations between urinary glyphosate concentration and sex hormone indicators by age and sex group. Among the 964 participants, 83.71% had been exposed to glyphosate (>lower limit of detection). The survey regression revealed a marginally negative association between urinary glyphosate and E in the overall population, while this association was more pronounced in adolescents with a significant trend. In further sex-stratified analyses among adolescents, a significant decrease in E, FAI, and TT (p trend <0.05) was observed in female adolescents for the highest quartile of urinary glyphosate compared to the lowest quartile. However, no similar association was observed among male adolescents. Our findings suggest that exposure to glyphosate at the current level may decrease the levels of sex steroids in adolescents, particularly female adolescents. Considering the cross-sectional study design, further research is needed to confirm our findings.
草甘膦被列为世界上使用最广泛的除草剂之一，其对性激素的潜在干扰作用引起了人们的关注。然而，目前针对人类的相关证据有限，特别是针对儿童和青少年的研究更为缺乏。本研究旨在利用 2013 年至 2016 年期间开展的国家健康和营养检查调查（NHANES）数据，研究 6-19 岁参与者中草甘膦暴露与性激素之间的关联。选择了有尿草甘膦、血清性激素（包括睾酮（TT）、雌二醇（E）和性激素结合球蛋白（SHBG））以及协变量数据的儿童和青少年。此外，还将 TT/E 和 FAI（使用 TT/SHBG 计算得出）作为性激素指标纳入研究。采用调查回归统计模型，按年龄和性别组，分析尿草甘膦浓度与性激素指标之间的关联。在 964 名参与者中，83.71%的人暴露于草甘膦（>检测下限）。调查回归分析显示，在全人群中，尿草甘膦与 E 呈负相关趋势，但在青少年中更为明显，且呈显著趋势。在青少年亚组的进一步性别分层分析中，与最低四分位数相比，尿草甘膦最高四分位数的女性青少年的 E、FAI 和 TT 水平显著降低（p 趋势<0.05）。然而，在男性青少年中未观察到类似的关联。本研究结果表明，当前水平的草甘膦暴露可能会降低青少年，尤其是女性青少年的性激素水平。由于本研究采用的是横断面研究设计，因此需要进一步的研究来证实我们的发现。
