Glycol ethers are an oxygenated solvent family widely present in consumer products. Some of them are recognized reproductive, developmental or hematological toxicants. Although several glycol ether biomonitoring studies have been performed on adults from working or general populations, no studies have hitherto been carried out on children. The aim of our study was to explore the detection of glycol ether metabolites in the urinary samples of 6-year-old children, and if any were found, to describe them.

The PELAGIE mother-child cohort included 3421 pregnant women from the general population of Brittany, France, between 2002 and 2006. Our biomonitoring study included a random sample of 110 children from the PELAGIE cohort who had participated in a neurodevelopment evaluation at the age of six. First morning voids were collected from all of the children. Eight urinary glycol ether metabolites were measured using gas chromatography with mass spectrometry. The limit of detection was 0.003 mg/L for all metabolites.

Glycol ether metabolites were detected at rates varying from 33.5% of samples for propoxyacetic acid to 100% of samples for phenoxyacetic acid and methoxyacetic acid. The highest median concentration observed was for phenoxyacetic acid (0.141 mg/l).

Our study reported the ubiquitous presence of glycol ether metabolites in children's urinary samples. These results call for larger biomonitoring surveys of the general population and study of the potential sources and determinants of these exposures.

乙二醇醚是消费品中广泛存在的一种含氧溶剂。其中一些是公认的生殖，发育或血液学毒物。尽管已经对来自工作人群或普通人群的成年人进行了几项乙二醇醚生物监测研究，但迄今为止，尚未对儿童进行任何研究。我们研究的目的是探索检测6岁儿童尿液中乙二醇醚代谢物的方法，如果发现的话，对其进行描述。

在2002年至2006年之间，PELAGIE母婴队列包括了来自法国布列塔尼总人口的3421名孕妇。我们的生物监测研究包括来自PELAGIE队列的110名儿童的随机样本，他们在6岁时就参与了神经发育评估。第一天早上从所有孩子那里收集了空隙。使用气相色谱-质谱法测量了八种尿素醚代谢物。所有代谢物的检出限为0.003 mg / L。

检出的乙二醇醚代谢物的比率从丙氧基乙酸样品的33.5％到苯氧乙酸和甲氧基乙酸的100％的样品不等。观察到的最高中值浓度是苯氧基乙酸（0.141 mg / l）。

我们的研究报告了儿童尿液样品中普遍存在乙二醇醚代谢物。这些结果要求对一般人群进行更大的生物监测调查，并研究这些暴露的潜在来源和决定因素。