Environmental Exposure To Triclosan And Reproductive Health

Background: Triclosan(2,4,4′-trichloro-2′-hydroxy-diphenyl ether,TCS)is widely used in personal care and household products.It was considered as a potential reproductive toxicant in previous in vitro and in vivo studies.However,evidence from human studies is scarce.Objective: To access the relationship between TCS exposure and female and male reproductive health with three population studies.Method:1,The female prospective cohort study.We recruited 1183 pre-pregnant women who intended to be pregnant.Firstly,we evaluated the correlation between TCS exposure and irregular menstruation and then we prospectively follow them up to assess the effect of pre-pregnancy TCS exposure on pregnancy outcomes.2,Multicenter case-control study.2178 infertile women were recruited from three centers,Firstly,we further verified the association between TCS exposure and irregular menstruation in the control group and preliminarily studied the mechanism of TCS action.Secondly,we studied the association between TCS exposure and infertility related diseases.3,Male prospective cohort study.526 men were recruited to assess the relationship between TCS exposure and sperm quality.The pregnancy outcomes of their wives were followed up after 1 year to assess the effect of TCS on male infertility.Result:1,In the female prospective cohort study we found a positive relationship between TCS exposure and irregular menstruation.Compared with the lowest quartile,the risk of irregular menstruation in higher concentration groups increased by about 1 time(for the highest quartile>8.75 ng/g creatinine,OR=2.05;95% CI:1.18-3.56);we further confirmed the positive correlation between TCS exposure and irregular menstruation in the multicenter case-control study(TCS>8.75 ng/g creatinine,OR=1.92;95%CI:1.00-3.7),and found that TCS exposure showed a significant negative correlation with progesterone(β=-1.28;95%CI:-2.33-0.24),luteinizing hormone also has a tendency with the increasing of TCS concentrations.2,In the case-control study we found TCS exposure elevated the risk of endometriosis,endometrial polyp/ uterine fibroids and found no relationship between TCS and polycystic ovarian syndrome,premature ovarian failure and repeated AID failure.3,In low level of TCS exposure,TCS concentration and sperm density,total,forward movement and normal morphology were negatively correlated.We also found that as the TCS exposure increased,the risk of male infertility increased(OR=1.36;95%CI:1.02-1.80)Conclusion: Our findings suggest that the adverse effect of TCS on female and male reproductive health at the environment-relevant dose in human.Further studies are needed to confirm our findings.