Exposure to bisphenol A and its analogs provides a preliminary indication of the risk of cognitive impairment for the elderly via an XGboost-based model

Abstract

Bisphenol A (BPA) and its bisphenol analogs (BPs) serve as key precursors in the manufacturing of polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins. However, due to BPA’ s detrimental health effects, there has been a growing global consensus to restrict its use. The elderly, being particularly susceptible to neurodegenerative disorders, represent a population of concern; yet, research exploring the association between BPs exposure and neurodegenerative diseases in the elderly remains scarce. In this study, the urinary levels of six BPs among 267 participants from the Shenzhen aging-related disorder cohort in China during 2017–2018 were measured. Cognitive status was evaluated using the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), and the impact of sociodemographic factors, lifestyle habits, and dietary practices was analyzed through the Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) classifier. In this study, BPA was the highest urinary level of bisphenol compound detected in the high-risk group (2.10 ng/mL, 95.2 %). Significant differences in BPs levels were observed to the degree of education, tea consumption frequency, meat intake frequency, and distance of main road groups (P < 0.05). Notably, the absence of a significant positive correlation between BPF and BPA levels in high-risk groups for cognitive impairment implies more findings may be needed to fully evaluate BPF’ s actual human exposure levels. The XGBoost models have further revealed that BPA analogs exposure and certain housing characteristics were substantial contributors to the potential impact on cognitive impairment during aging not only BPA.