Evaluation Of Occupational Exposure To Bisphenol A And Its Reproductive Effects In Women

【Background】The plastics ingredient bisphenol A(BPA) is strongly suspected as a human endocrine disrupter.Occupational exposure to BPA is high,and the chemical is widely used in consumer products,including baby bottles.It is also important to note that the question of BPA's effects as an endocrine disrupter has become quite highly politicized.But there was little evidence in humans to support the hypotheses that BPA exposure is associated with an increased risk of presenting decreased reproductive function.【Objective】Our goals were to estimate associations of female reproductive health outcomes with occupational exposures to BPA.【Methodology】We had conducted an occupational epidemiology study to evaluate the reproductive effects of BPA in women in the year 2004-2008.Information on BPA exposure and the outcomes to be measured was obtained through(1)workplace monitoring,(2)in-person interview,and(3)collection and assay of biological samples(urine,blood).We had compared reproductive function between BPA exposed workers and unexposed workers,including sexual function,abnormal menstruation, hormone and adverse pregnant outcomes.Continuous variables analysis:The variables were further analyzed with general liner model,the Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test and the Kruskal-Wallis test depending on the normality assumption.Binary variables analysis:Logistic regression analysis containing the reproductive outcomes(normal or abnormal) and variables of occupational exposure to BPA was used to estimate crude and multivariate-adjusted odds ratio of risk factors and its 95%confidence interval.All statistical analysis were performed by using SAS(?)version 9.01(SAS Institute,Cary,North Carolina,USA).【Results】This study recruited 430 subjects,including 122 exposed workers from plastic chemical factories and control group of 308 female workers not exposed to BPA.They were investigated using structural questionnaire on women reproduction health.The parameters of sexual function included sexual desire,intercourse satisfaction, frequency of sexual intercourse and overall satisfaction,et al.The differences of sexual function between the exposed group and control group were not statistically significant. According to the periodicity of menstruation,we compared the levels of hormone (including FSH,progestone,estradiol,luteinizing hormone and prolactin) between the control and the exposed group.It was shown that the levels of hormone in the exposed group were not higher than those in the control group.The rates of abnormality in menstruation,menstrual period and menstrual cycle in the exposed group were not obviously higher than those in the control group.There were no significant differences of rate of abnormal menstruation among the exposed workers and unexposed workers,.P＞0.05.But it was shown that the rate of abnormal in menstrual cycle in the exposed group rose along with the increase of length of work years,P＜0.05.There was no significant difference of spontaneous abortion between the exposed group and control group,P＞0.05.In comparison with the control group,premature delivery was higher,but being no significant differences,P＞0.05.There was no significant difference of low birth weight between the exposed group and control group.It was shown that low birth weight in the exposed group rose along with the increase of length of work years,but being no significant differences, P＞0.05.【Conclusions】The study did not support the hypothesis that BPA at the levels which we studied had impact on female reproductive function.