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Urinary concentrations of parabens amongst Iranian adults and their associations with socio-demographic factors

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Abstract

Background

Parabens are widely used to prevent organism growth and increase the shelf life of foods, medicines and personal care products (PCPs). Recent studies indicate their potentially harmful effects on human health. There is no information on the extent of exposure to parabens among Iranians.

Methods

We measured the concentration of urinary methylparaben (MP), ethylparaben (EP), propylparaben (PP) and butylparaben (BP) among Iranian adults and calculated their estimated daily intake (EDI). Also, association between the level of urinary parabens with socio-demographic and lifestyle variables were investigated.

Results

Detection frequencies of MP, EP, PP, and BP were 98.9, 91, 94.3, and 88.2%, and their median urinary concentrations were 69.06, 9.10, 12.4, and 9.87 µg/l, respectively. Urinary parabens were higher in females, and the difference in the concentration of MP and PP was significant. A significantly positive correlation between MP and PP (r = 0.638) and a moderate to a weak correlation between other parabens were observed. There was a significantly negative weak correlation between age and MP, BP and PP. There was also a significant association between different age groups and MP, BP and PP as well as different BMI values and MP. The highest EDI value belonged to MP in the female group. Despite being lower than the acceptable daily intake (ADI), its value was higher than that reported in other countries (except the US).

Conclusions

Our findings indicated that Iranians are widely exposed to the parabens and the range of exposure was associated with socio-demographic factors. These results could serve as a basis for assessing the risk of exposure to parabens amongst Iranians.

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Acknowledgements

This research was financially supported by the Isfahan University of Medical Sciences. The authors are grateful to Isfahan University of Medical Sciences for their cooperation in this study. (Grant No: 397471, 2018)

Funding

This paper was extracted from a PhD thesis funded by the Isfahan University of Medical Science (Grant No: 397471).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Student Research Committee, School of Health, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran

    Ghasem Kiani Feizabadi

  2. Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Health, Semnan University of Medical Sciences, Semnan, Iran

    Ghasem Kiani Feizabadi

  3. Environment Research Center, Research Institute for Primordial Prevention of Non-communicable Diseases, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran

    Yaghoub Hajizadeh & Karim Ebrahimpour

  4. Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, School of Health, and Psychosomatic Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran

    Awat Feizi

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  1. Ghasem Kiani Feizabadi
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Kiani Feizabadi, G., Hajizadeh, Y., Feizi, A. et al. Urinary concentrations of parabens amongst Iranian adults and their associations with socio-demographic factors. J Environ Health Sci Engineer 18, 1227–1238 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40201-020-00540-6

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