Association of urinary phthalates metabolites concentration with emotional symptoms in Chinese university students

Previous studies have shown the associations between phthalates exposure and psychological behavior problems in children and adolescents, but such associations have not been fully elucidated in university students, especially among Chinese university students. This study aims to examine the association between urinary phthalates metabolites concentration and emotional symptoms in Chinese university students. A school-based cross-sectional survey was carried out among 990 university students aged 17–24 years from two universities in Anhui and Jiangxi provinces of China. Concentration of six phthalate metabolites in urine was determined by high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry and the emotional symptoms were assessed by the 21-item Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale. The detection rate of six phthalate metabolites in urine ranged from 79.6% to 99.7%. The median concentration of six phthalate metabolites ranged from 2.90 to 119.64 ng/mL. The positive rates of depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and stress were 17.4%, 24.8%, and 9.5%, respectively. After adjusting for the confounding variables, mono(2-ethyl-5-hydroxyhexyl) phthalate (MEHHP) was found to be associated with depressive symptoms (β = 8.84, P = 0.017), anxiety symptoms (β = 8.46, P = 0.015), and stress symptoms (β = 9.95, P = 0.012) in males; whereas, monobutyl phthalate (MBP) was found to be associated with depressive symptoms (β = 1.86, P = 0.002), anxiety symptoms (β = 1.81, P = 0.005), and stress symptoms (β = 1.48, P = 0.047) in females. Our study demonstrates that Chinese university students are widely exposed to phthalates; and high- and low-molecular weight phthalates are associated with emotional symptoms in males and females, respectively.