title: Phthalate exposure and precocious puberty in females.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine whether phthalate exposure is associated with precocious puberty in girls.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a multicenter cross-sectional study in which 28 girls with central precocious puberty (CPP) and 28 age- and race-matched prepubertal females were enrolled. Nine phthalate metabolites and creatinine were measured in spot urine samples from these 56 children.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Levels of 8 of the 9 phthalate metabolites were above the limit of detection (LOD) in all 56 subjects. Mono (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (MEHP) was below the LOD in 25/56 samples (14 subjects with precocious puberty and 11 controls). No significant differences between the children with CPP and the controls in either absolute or creatinine-normalized concentrations of any of the 9 phthalate metabolites were measured.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although phthalates may be associated with certain other toxicities in humans, our study suggests that their exposure is not associated with precocious puberty in female children.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of Kentucky College of Medicine, Lexington, KY, USA. jefferson.lomenick@vanderbilt.edu
authors.forename: Jefferson P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Lomenick
authors.forename: Antonia M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Calafat
authors.forename: Maria S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Melguizo Castro
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mier
authors.forename: Peggy
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Stenger
authors.forename: Michael B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Foster
authors.forename: Kupper A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Wintergerst
mesh_terms: D001741:Black or African American / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000032:analysis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008126:Lod Score; D016555:Matched-Pair Analysis; D010795:Phthalic Acids / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000652:urine; D011629:Puberty, Precocious / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D044465:White People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
chemical_list: D010795:Phthalic Acids; C032279:phthalic acid