Occurrence of bisphenol diglycidyl ethers and bisphenol analogs, and their associations with DNA oxidative damage in pregnant women

Bisphenol diglycidyl ethers (BDGEs) and Bisphenol A and its analogs (bisphenols) may have the same exposure routes and coexposure phenomenon in sensitive populations such as pregnant women. Previous biomonitoring studies on BDGEs are limited. Levels of fifteen bisphenols, six BDGEs and the DNA oxidative damage biomarker 8-hydroxy-2-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) were measured in the urine of pregnant women recruited in south China (n = 358). We aimed to provide the occurrence of bisphenols and BDGEs in pregnant women, and to investigate the potential relationship between their exposure and oxidative stress. Bisphenol A, bisphenol S, bisphenol F, bisphenol AP and all BDGEs (except for BADGE·2HCl) were frequently detected. The total concentrations of all bisphenols and BDGEs were 0.402-338 and 0.104-32.5 ng/mL, with geometric means of 2.87 and 2.48 ng/mL, respectively. BFDGE was the most abundant chemical of BDGEs, with a median concentration of 0.872 ng/mL, followed by BADGE·H2O·HCl (0.297 ng/mL). Except for pre-pregnancy obesity, maternal age/height, employment, fasting in the morning and parity did not affect the urinary concentrations of BDGEs. Significant and weak correlations were observed between concentrations (unadjusted) of total bisphenols and BDGEs (r = 0.389, p < 0.01), indicating their similar sources and exposure routes. The biomarker 8-OHdG was detected in all samples, with concentrations ranging from 1.98 to 32.6 ng/mL (median: 9.96 ng/mL). Levels of 8-OHdG were positively correlated with urinary several bisphenol concentrations (adjusted β range: 0.037-0.089, p < 0.05) but were not correlated with those of BDGEs. Further studies should focus on whether BDGEs and bisphenols exert combined effects on oxidative stress. Our study provided the first BDGEs exposure data in pregnant women and indicated that BDGEs exposure was highly prevalent in pregnant women as early as 2015 in south China.