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Giuseppe Latini,^1,2 Claudio De Felice,³ Giuseppe Presta,¹ Antonio Del Vecchio,¹ Irma Paris,⁴ Fabrizio Ruggieri,⁴ and Pietro Mazzeo⁴

¹Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Division of Paediatrics, Perrino Hospital, Brindisi, Italy; ²Clinical Physiology Institute (IFC-CNR), National Research Council of Italy, Lecce Section, Lecce, Italy; ³Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Department of Paediatrics, Obstetrics, and Reproductive Medicine University of Siena, Siena, Italy; ⁴Department of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials, University of L'Aquila, L'Aquila, Italy

Abstract
Di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) , the most commonly used plasticizer in flexible polyvinylchloride formulations, is a ubiquitous environmental contaminant. To date, no information exists on the potential health hazards from exposure to DEHP and/or its main metabolite, mono-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (MEHP) , in high-risk conditions, such as pregnancy and during the neonatal period. The aim of this study was to evaluate prenatal exposure to DEHP and/or MEHP and its possible biologic effects. We measured serum DEHP and MEHP concentrations in the cord blood of 84 consecutive newborns by high-performance liquid chromatography. Relationships between DEHP/MEHP and infant characteristics were tested using Fisher's exact test, unpaired t-tests, and univariate linear regression analyses, and significant differences on univariate analysis were evaluated using multiple logistic regression analysis. We found detectable cord blood DEHP and/or MEHP concentrations in 88.1% of the samples. Either DEHP or MEHP was present in 65 of 84 (77.4%) of the examined samples. Mean concentrations of DEHP and MEHP were 1.19 ± 1.15 µg/mL [95% confidence interval (CI) , 0.93-1.44, range = 0-4.71] and 0.52 ± 0.61 µg/mL (95% CI, 0.39-0.66, range = 0-2.94) , respectively. MEHP-positive newborns showed a significantly lower gestational age compared with MEHP-negative infants (p = 0.033) . Logistic regression analysis results indicated a positive correlation between absence of MEHP in cord blood and gestational age at delivery (odds ratio = 1.50, 95% CI, 1.013-2.21 ; p = 0.043) . These findings confirm that human exposure to DEHP can begin in utero and suggest that phthalate exposure is significantly associated with a shorter pregnancy duration. Key words: di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate, environmental hazards, gestational age, mono-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate, prenatal exposure. Environ Health Perspect 111:1783-1785 (2003) . doi:10.1289/ehp.6202 available via http://dx.doi.org/ [Online 18 August 2003]

Address correspondence to G. Latini, Division of Paediatrics, Perrino Hospital, S.S. 7 per Mesagne, 72100 Brindisi, Clinical Physiology Institute (IFC-CNR) National Research Council of Italy, Lecce Section, Italy. Telephone: +39-0831-537471. Fax: +39-0831-537861. E-mail: gilatini@tin.it

The authors declare they have no conflict of interest.

Received 8 January 2003 ; accepted 18 August 2003.