Phthalate exposure and precocious puberty in females.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether phthalate exposure is associated with precocious puberty in girls.

STUDY DESIGN: This was a multicenter cross-sectional study in which 28 girls with central precocious puberty (CPP) and 28 age- and race-matched prepubertal females were enrolled. Nine phthalate metabolites and creatinine were measured in spot urine samples from these 56 children.

RESULTS: Levels of 8 of the 9 phthalate metabolites were above the limit of detection (LOD) in all 56 subjects. Mono (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (MEHP) was below the LOD in 25/56 samples (14 subjects with precocious puberty and 11 controls). No significant differences between the children with CPP and the controls in either absolute or creatinine-normalized concentrations of any of the 9 phthalate metabolites were measured.

CONCLUSIONS: Although phthalates may be associated with certain other toxicities in humans, our study suggests that their exposure is not associated with precocious puberty in female children.