Humans are potentially exposed to phthalate esters (PEs) through ingestion, inhalation, and dermal contact. Studies quantifying exposure to PEs include “biomarker studies” and “indirect studies.” Biomarker studies use measurements of PE metabolites in urine to back-calculate exposure to the parent diester, while indirect studies use the concentration of the PE in each medium of exposure and the rate of intake of that medium to quantify intake of the PE. In this review, exposure estimates from biomarker and indirect studies are compiled and compared for seven PEs to determine if there are regional differences and if there is a preferred approach. The indirect and biomarker methods generally agree with each other within an order of magnitude and discrepancies are explained by difficulties in accounting for use of consumer products, uncertainty concerning absorption, regional differences, and temporal changes. No single method is preferred for estimating intake of all PEs; it is suggested that biomarker estimates be used for low molecular weight PEs for which it is difficult to quantify all sources of exposure and either indirect or biomarker methods be used for higher molecular weight PEs. The indirect methods are useful in identifying sources of exposure while the biomarker methods quantify exposure.

人类可能通过摄入、吸入和皮肤接触接触邻苯二甲酸酯 (PE)。量化暴露于 PE 的研究包括“生物标志物研究”和“间接研究”。生物标志物研究使用尿液中 PE 代谢物的测量值来反算对母体二酯的暴露，而间接研究使用每种暴露介质中 PE 的浓度和该介质的摄入率来量化 PE 的摄入量。在本次审查中，对七个 PE 的生物标志物和间接研究的暴露估计进行了汇编和比较，以确定是否存在区域差异以及是否存在首选方法。间接方法和生物标志物方法通常在一个数量级内彼此一致，差异的原因是难以解释消费品的使用，吸收、区域差异和时间变化的不确定性。没有一种方法可以用来估算所有 PE 的摄入量；建议对难以量化所有暴露源的低分子量 PE 使用生物标志物估计值，而对较高分子量 PE 使用间接或生物标志物方法。间接方法可用于识别暴露源，而生物标志物方法量化暴露。