Abstract
We examined the relationships between exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) metabolites and sex hormones in pre- and postmenopausal women from the 2013–2016 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The study comprised 648 premenopausal and 370 postmenopausal women (aged 20 years or older) with comprehensive data on PAH metabolites and sex steroid hormones. To evaluate the correlations between individual or mixture of the PAH metabolites and sex hormones stratified by menopausal status, we used linear regression and Bayesian kernel machine regression (BKMR). After controlling for confounders, 1-Hydroxynaphthalene (1-NAP) was inversely associated with total testosterone (TT), and 1-NAP, 3-Hydroxyfluorene (3-FLU), and 2-Hydroxyfluorene (2-FLU) were inversely associated with estradiol (E2). 3-FLU was positively associated with sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) and TT/E2, whereas 1-NAP and 2-FLU were inversely associated with free androgen index (FAI). In the BKMR analyses, chemical combination concentrations at or above the 55th percentile were inversely connected to E2, TT, and FAI values but positively correlated with SHBG when compared with the matching 50th percentile. In addition, we only found that mixed exposure to PAHs was positively associated with TT and SHBG in premenopausal women. Exposure to PAH metabolites, either alone or as a mixture, was negatively associated with E2, TT, FAI, and TT/E2 but positively associated with SHBG. These associations were stronger among postmenopausal women.
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The datasets used and analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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This study was supported in part by the Shijiazhuang Science and Technology Research and Development Plan Project (NO.201461173).
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Zhan Liu: project development, data collection, management and analysis, manuscript writing. Xihui Zhu, Yancen Meng: project development, data management and analysis, manuscript writing and editing. Yaru Ju, Yanjing Yang: data collection, management and analysis. Su’e Zhang, Liye Miao: data analysis, manuscript editing.
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Brief synopsis: Exposure to PAH metabolites, either alone or as a mixture, was associated with sex hormone indicators especially in postmenopausal women.
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Zhu, X., Meng, Y., Ju, Y. et al. Association of the urinary polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons with sex hormones stratified by menopausal status older than 20 years: a mixture analysis. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 57717–57727 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-26099-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-26099-x