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Reliability of concentrations of organophosphate pesticide metabolites in serial urine specimens from pregnancy in the Generation R Study

Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology volume 25, pages 286–294 (2015)Cite this article

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Abstract

The widespread use of organophosphate (OP) pesticides has resulted in ubiquitous exposure in humans, primarily through their diet. Exposure to OP pesticides may have adverse health effects, including neurobehavioral deficits in children. The optimal design of new studies requires data on the reliability of urinary measures of exposure. In the present study, urinary concentrations of six dialkyl phosphate (DAP) metabolites, the main urinary metabolites of OP pesticides, were determined in 120 pregnant women participating in the Generation R Study in Rotterdam. Intra-class correlation coefficients (ICCs) across serial urine specimens taken at <18, 18–25, and >25 weeks of pregnancy were determined to assess reliability. Geometric mean total DAP metabolite concentrations were 229 (GSD 2.2), 240 (GSD 2.1), and 224 (GSD 2.2) nmol/g creatinine across the three periods of gestation. Metabolite concentrations from the serial urine specimens in general correlated moderately. The ICCs for the six DAP metabolites ranged from 0.14 to 0.38 (0.30 for total DAPs), indicating weak to moderate reliability. Although the DAP metabolite levels observed in this study are slightly higher and slightly more correlated than in previous studies, the low to moderate reliability indicates a high degree of within-person variability, which presents challenges for designing well-powered epidemiological studies.

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Acknowledgements

The Generation R Study is conducted by the Erasmus MC, University Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands in close collaboration with the School of Law and Faculty of Social Sciences of the Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Municipal Health Service Rotterdam area, the Rotterdam Homecare Foundation and the Stichting Trombosedienst and Artsenlaboratorium Rijnmond (STAR), Rotterdam. We gratefully acknowledge the contribution of general practitioners, hospitals, midwives and pharmacies in Rotterdam. The first phase of the Generation R Study is made possible by financial support from the Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, the Erasmus University Rotterdam and the Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development (ZonMw). We also thank Edwin van Wijngaarden for reviewing previous versions of the manuscript. This research received support from the Intramural Research Program of the National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and grants K12 ES019852 and P30 001247 from the National Institutes of Health (NIH, USA). We are grateful to R. Hauser of Harvard University for the suggestion to collect multiple urine specimens from subjects.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Risk Analysis for Products in Development, TNO, Zeist, The Netherlands

    Suzanne Spaan & Anjoeka Pronk

  2. Institute for Prevention and Occupational Medicine of the German Social Accident Insurance, Ruhr-University Bochum, Bochum, Germany

    Holger M Koch

  3. Departments of Public Health Sciences and Environmental Medicine, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, New York, USA

    Todd A Jusko

  4. The Generation R Study Group, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    Vincent W V Jaddoe, Henning M Tiemeier & Albert Hofman

  5. Department of Epidemiology, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    Vincent W V Jaddoe & Albert Hofman

  6. Department of Pediatrics, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    Vincent W V Jaddoe

  7. Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

    Pamela A Shaw

  8. Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    Henning M Tiemeier

  9. Department of Urban Environment and Safety, TNO, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Frank H Pierik

  10. Epidemiology Branch, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, NIH, DHHS, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA

    Matthew P Longnecker

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  1. Suzanne Spaan
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Correspondence to Suzanne Spaan.

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Spaan, S., Pronk, A., Koch, H. et al. Reliability of concentrations of organophosphate pesticide metabolites in serial urine specimens from pregnancy in the Generation R Study. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol 25, 286–294 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/jes.2014.81

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