Theses and Dissertations from UMD

Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2

New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a give thesis/dissertation in DRUM

More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.

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Author: search.filters.author.Bibb, Katrina Alexandra

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    INVESTIGATING THE ASSOCIATION OF PHTHALATE EXPOSURES AND ADVERSE REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH OUTCOMES IN A REPRESENTATIVE SAMPLE OF U.S. WOMEN
    (2017) Bibb, Katrina Alexandra; Alcala, Lesliam Q; Environmental Science and Technology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Phthalates are endocrine disrupting chemicals present in a large variety of consumer goods. There is supporting evidence from animal studies that exposure to phthalates affect the female reproductive system by disrupting the epigenome and folliculogenesis/oogenesis. Although women of reproductive age experience higher phthalate exposures versus males due to frequent use of cosmetics and personal care products (PCP), studies investigating reproductive health effects of these chemicals are scarce. In this study, a nationally representative sample was used to investigate the association between exposure to phthalates (primarily in PCPs and cosmetics) and subfertility in women aged 18-44. We observed significantly higher phthalate levels among minority women and positive associations between DBP exposure and subfertility in regressions when adjusted for important covariates This is the first study to use such a sample of women to study the effects of phthalates on subfertility. More epidemiological studies are needed to investigate phthalate levels among minorities.