The Association between Sex Hormones, Pubertal Milestones and Benzophenone-3 Exposure, Measured by Urinary Biomarker or Questionnaire

ABSTRACT

Experimental studies have suggested benzophenone-3 (BP-3), a sunscreen ingredient, may have endocrine-disrupting properties. A cohort of girls were recruited at ages 6–7 years and returned semi-annually for pubertal maturation staging, provided blood for serum hormone analyses [estradiol, estrone, testosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone-sulfate (DHEA-S)], and urine to measure BP-3 concentrations. We found a significant negative linear association between amount of reported sunscreen use and testosterone levels at the onset of puberty (N = 157, adjusted β = −0.0163, 97.5% CI:-0.0300,-0.0026). The 2nd quartile of the BP-3 biomarker had earlier thelarche compared to the 1st quartile (N = 282, adjusted HR = 1.584, 97.5% CI:1.038,2.415). Results suggest that higher report of sunscreen use may be associated with lower testosterone levels at thelarche and a non-linear relationship between the BP-3 urinary biomarker and onset of puberty, although the clinical significance of the finding is limited and may be a random effect. Improved methods of BP-3 exposure characterization are needed.

KEYWORDS:

• Benzophenone-3
• oxybenzone
• sex hormones
• pubertal milestones
• biomarker

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Author Contributions

Courtney M Giannini, PhD: Developed hypotheses and specific aims, designed the study, wrote all statistical code, and conducted and interpreted all the statistical analyses and prepared manuscript. Susan M. Pinney, PhD: Principle Investigator of the study, conception of the project, obtained funding for the study, collaborated on design of the study and interpretation of analyses, edited and contributed to full manuscript. Frank M. Biro, MD: Principal Investigator of the study and previous studies for which data was used in the current study, contributed to the design of dissertation, edited and contributed to full manuscript. Richard Schwartz, PhD: Provided input on basic science interpretation of findings, edited and contributed to full manuscript. Bin Huang: Collaborated on the design of Aim 3, advised on the conducting and interpreting all statistical analyses, edited and contributed to full manuscript. Cecily Fassler, PhD: contributed to data preparation for and edited and contributed to full manuscript

Donald Chandler, PhD: oversaw hormone measurements and contributed to the full manuscript

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the participants of the Breast Cancer and the Environment Research Program Puberty Cohort and their families for making this research possible.

Disclosure Statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.

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Funding

This work was supported by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences [P30ES006096, U01ES012770, U01ES019453, U01ES026119,R01ES029133,T32ES010957,U01ES012770, U01ES019453, U01ES026119]; National Institute of General Medical Sciences [T32GM063483].