Phthalates and attributable mortality: a population-based longitudinal cohort study and cost analysis
Trasande L, Liu B, Bao W (2022). Environmental Pollution.
What they found
Higher urinary levels of high-molecular-weight phthalates, especially DEHP metabolites, were linked to higher all-cause death (hazard ratio 1.14 for continuous levels; 1.48 in the top third) and to cardiovascular death. The authors extrapolated 90,761–107,283 attributable deaths among 55–64-year-old Americans and US$39.9–47.1 billion in lost productivity.
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The Minderoo-Monaco Commission's 2023 correction says that, on re-examination, this paper's death figure (which the Commission had cited as annual) appears to be based on 2013 and 2014 US population data combined, so it covers two years. The abstract states no period for the death figure itself; its objectives refer to attributable mortality in 2013-4.
- Sample
- 5,303 US adults (NHANES 2001–2010) followed to 2015
- What it can't tell you
- One urine sample per person for chemicals that clear within a day, so exposure is noisy. Observational: association, not causation. The death and cost extrapolation depends on assuming causality.
- Funding
- US National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
- Topics
- Health effects, Chemicals
- Checked against
- Abstract (Europe PMC, PMID 34654571, PMC8616787); correction text in Annals of Global Health (PMC10573651)