Changes of urinary bisphenol A and alternatives in Korea 2015-2020 and environmental disparities by socioeconomic status

Abstract

Background: Bisphenol A (BPA), mainly used as an ingredient for epoxy resins, is widely utilized in numerous daily necessities. However, due to its endocrine-disrupting property, many countries have regulated BPA usage in consumer products, which might motivate industries to prefer alternative chemicals such as bisphenol S (BPS) and bisphenol F (BPF). This study aimed to evaluate temporal changes in consumption patterns of bisphenolcontaining products and evaluate whether such trend depended on socioeconomic status (SES). Methods: We used data of general adults from the Korean National Environmental Health Survey (KoNEHS) 2015–2020 (n = 8000). Bisphenol exposures were measured by urinary concentrations of BPA, BPS, and BPF. A ratio of alternative-to-legacy bisphenol (BP ratio [(S + F)/A]) was then estimated as (BPS + BPF)/BPA. Associations between BP ratio and SES indices (each variable and a composite score of household income, residence area, occupation, and education) were examined using survey-weighted multiple linear regression models. Results: During the study period of 2015–2020, BP ratio [(S + F)/A] showed an overall increase, with a steep increase from 2017 to 2020 (BP ratio: 0.09 to 0.73). Such an increase corresponded to a series of BPA regulations since 2008, which had banned BPA-containing products (i.e., food containers, cosmetics, and baby products) and set the lifetime reference dose. Trends of BP ratio differed by SES, but not by age or sex. Among the most recent data in 2020, higher-educated individuals with a university graduate or above education showed a 70.1 % (95 % CI: 1.8 %, 182.9 %) higher BP ratio than those under high school graduation after adjusting for age and sex. Conclusions: Bisphenol exposure of the general Korean adults shifted from BPA to its alternatives in parallel with consecutive BPA regulations. Such an exposure shift was more pronounced in adults with higher SES. Further bisphenol regulations should consider environmental disparities of the public.