We discuss considerations that are essential when evaluating exposure to nonpersistent, semivolatile environmental chemicals such as phthalates and phenols (e.g., bisphenol A). A biomarker should be chosen to best represent usual personal exposures and not recent, adventitious, or extraneous exposures. Biomarkers should be selected to minimize contamination arising from collection, sampling, or analysis procedures. Pharmacokinetics should be considered; for example, nonpersistent, semivolatile chemicals are metabolized quickly, and urine is the compartment with the highest concentrations of metabolites. Because these chemicals are nonpersistent, knowledge of intraindividual reliability over the biologic window of interest is also required. In recent years researchers have increasingly used blood as a matrix for characterizing exposure to nonpersistent chemicals. However, the biologic and technical factors noted above strongly support urine as the optimal matrix for measuring nonpersistent, semivolatile, hydrophilic environmental agents.
1Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA; 2National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA; 3Institute for Prevention and Occupational Medicine of the German Social Accident Insurance, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Bochum, Germany; 4Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York, USA; 5Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA; 6Milken Institute School of Public Health, George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA; 7British Columbia Children’s Hospital, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; 8Silent Spring Institute, Boston, Massachusetts, USA; 9University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA; 10Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, New York, USA
Recommended Citation:
Antonia M. Calafat,1 Matthew P. Longnecker,2 Holger M. Koch,et al. Optimal Exposure Biomarkers for Nonpersistent Chemicals in Environmental Epidemiology[J]. Environmental Health Perspectives,2015-01-01,Volume 123(Issue 7):A166