Associations of phthalates with prostate cancer among the US population

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Human exposure to harmful phthalates has raised global health concerns. According to cellular and molecular investigations, phthalates and their metabolites promoted prostate cancer (PCa). Despite being prevalent cancer afflicting the global male population, the epidemiological association between phthalates and prostate cancer remains understudied. This work aims to investigate whether phthalate metabolites are related with prostate cancer. Moreover, we sought to understand whether their elevated concentrations are associated with increased serum concentrations of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) among non-prostate cancer interviewees. According to National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data from 2003 to 2010, we screened eligible men aged 20 years or older, then crude and multivariate regression models were created to measure the relationship. The phthalates significantly related to PCa were analyzed based on variables associated with both prostate cancer status and prostate-specific antigen. A molar sum ∑Di-2-Ethylhexyl Phthalate (∑DEHP) was found simultaneously associated with increased risk of prostate cancer and increasing PSA. Within them, high molecular weight phthalate metabolites comprised mono-benzyl phthalate (MBzP) and 3 metabolites of DEHP. In summary, phthalates are potentially associated with impairing prostate status causing tumorigenesis in the US population. However, additional in-depth prospective studies in different ethnic groups are required to validate the causality between both.