Phthalate and alternative plasticizer exposure and antiandrogenic risk among automobile parts manufacturing workers in South Korea.

Authors

Sohyeon Choi, Sohyeon Bang, Younglim Kho, Na-Youn Park, Sue Shin, Jeongim Park

Published in

Journal of hazardous materials. Volume 515. Pages 142923. Jul 27, 2026. Epub Jul 27, 2026.

Abstract

Although plasticizers are widely used in automobile parts manufacturing, no large-scale biomonitoring study has simultaneously measured both legacy phthalates (PAEs) and emerging alternative plasticizers (APs). We quantified 33 urinary metabolites of 13 PAEs and 4 APs using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry in paired samples (prior-to- and end-of-workweek) from 490 male workers at five South Korean automobile parts companies. K-means clustering identified three exposure profiles: PAE-dominant (n = 173), with elevated ΣDEHP and MnBP; AP-dominant (n = 143), driven by DEC (a metabolite of acetyl triethyl citrate (ATEC)); and a low-exposure cluster (n = 174), predominantly comprising office-based workers. At the population level, total plasticizer concentrations did not significantly increase across the workweek (ΣPlasticizers median: 115 vs. 121 µg/L, specific gravity-adjusted; p = 0.201). However, cluster-specific analyses demonstrated significant end-of-workweek increases in the PAE-dominant group (p < 0.001) and the AP-dominant group (p < 0.001), revealing that population-level averaging masks occupational contributions. Painting and processing workers had significantly higher concentrations than assembly workers, and personal protective equipment use was associated with lower metabolite levels (43.3% reduction in ΣPlasticizers with combined mask and glove use; p < 0.001). Conventional hazard indices exceeded one in only six workers (1.2%), whereas the cumulative antiandrogenic hazard index (HI_AA) exceeded one in 116 workers (23.7%). These findings demonstrate that conventional, endpoint-agnostic risk assessment substantially underestimates cumulative antiandrogenic risk, supporting endpoint-specific, mixture-based hazard evaluation for co-occurring plasticizers in occupational settings.

PMID:
42508080
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 28 Jul 2026.

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