Lysmeral Exposure in Children and Adolescences Participating in the German Environmental Survey (2012-2015): Integrating Sex/Gender into Analysis.

Comprehensive consideration of the biological and social diversities of sex and gender as well as their interdependencies is mostly missing in human biomonitoring (HBM) studies. Using the INGER sex/gender concept as theoretical background, we analyzed differences in exposure to lysmeral, a compound commonly found as a fragrance in cosmetics, personal care, and household products, in 2294 children and adolescents in Germany using decision tree, regression, and mediation analysis. The variables "sex assigned at birth" and "age", as well as well as use of personal care products and fabric conditioner proved to have the highest explanatory value. Mediating effects of behaviour associated with societal gender expectations were observed, as the use of cosmetics correlated highly with lysmeral metabolites concentrations in girls between 6 and 17 years, with the strongest effect in adolescents between 14 and 17 years old. In the youngest age group (3-5 years) boys showed higher concentration of the metabolite tert-butylbenzoic acid (TBBA) compared to girls of the same age but only if TBBA urine concentrations were normalized on creatinine. Our study offers the first retrospective sex/gender assessment of HBM data. It demonstrates the possibilities to rethink and broaden sex/gender analysis in existing HBM-studies and highlights the need for inclusion of new sex/gender concepts in the design of new studies.

Metabolites of the fragrance 2-(4-tert-butylbenzyl)propionaldehyde (lysmeral) in urine of children and adolescents in Germany - Human biomonitoring results of the German Environmental Survey 2014-2017 (GerES V).

The synthetic fragrance 2-(4-tert-butylbenzyl)propionaldehyde, also known as lysmeral, butylphenyl methylpropional, lilial, or lily aldehyde, is widely used in cosmetics, personal care products, laundry detergents, and air fresheners. It is classified as suspected to be harmful to fertility and possibly endocrine disrupting. Its maximum concentration in cosmetics is limited. First-morning void urine samples (N = 2133) were analysed for several metabolites of lysmeral (Chemical Abstract Service (CAS) No.: 80-54-6). Samples were collected in the population-representative German Environmental Survey for Children and Adolescents 2014-2017 (GerES V) from German residents aged 3-17 years. Four main metabolites tert-butylbenzoic acid, lysmerol, lysmerylic acid, and hydroxy-lysmerylic acid were found in quantifiable amounts in 100%, 99%, 40%, and 23% of the samples, respectively, with geometric mean concentrations of 10.21 µg/L (8.658 µg/gcrea) for tert-butylbenzoic acid, 1.528 µg/L (1.296 µg/gcrea) for lysmerol, and below the limit of quantification of 0.2 µg/L and 0.4 µg/L for lysmerylic acid and hydroxy-lysmerylic acid, respectively. Girls had higher urinary concentrations of lysmeral metabolites than boys. Usage of fragrances, fabric softener, and personal care products, especially perfume, was positively associated with urinary concentrations of lysmeral metabolites. Source identification builds a basis to derive proposals for reduction of exposure. These results can also provide the foundation for developing reference values for urinary metabolite concentrations of lysmeral in children and adolescents in Germany that will facilitate recognising future exposure trends.