Citation:

Fortmann, R. AND M. G. Nishioka. USE OF DISPOSABLE DIAPERS TO COLLECT URINE IN EXPOSURE STUDIES. Presented at National Children's Study Assembly Meeting, Atlanta, GA, December 17, 2003.

Impact/Purpose:

The objective of this task is to identify, develop, and evaluate simple, cost effective monitoring methods that can be used to develop exposure classifications for the proposed Longitudinal Cohort Study. Methods once evaluated should be applicable to other epidemiological studies. This project will be conducted as four concurrent subprojects.

(1) demonstrating field performance and developing uptake rates of a semipermeable membrane devise (SMPD) to collect long-term integrated samples for semivolatile organics in air,

(2) developing simple rapid methods for analyzing the SMPDs,

(3) developing rapid field or near field methods for analyzing chemical metabolites in urine,

(4) review literature to identify available but not currently used techniques for long-term integrated exposure measurements.

Description:

Large studies of children's health as it relates to exposures to chemicals in the environment often require measurements of biomarkers of chemical exposures or effects in urine samples. But collection of urine samples from infants and toddlers is difficult. For large exposure studies, such as the National Children's Study (NCS), it is highly desirable to identify a low burden, low-cost method for collection of urine from infants and very young children. Disposable diapers that contain polyacrylate granules and fibers are the most widely used diapers for hygiene purposes. But their use to collect urine that can be analyzed for environmental contaminants and blomarker compounds has not been tested adequately.

This project consists of a laboratory study to evaluate a method for measuring biomarkers of current-use pesticides in urine samples collected with commercially-available disposable diapers. An initial set of tests will be performed to evaluate the feasibility of the proposed solvent extraction and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) analysis method. If the initial tests demonstrate that the method is likely to provide acceptable performance, a more comprehensive set of tests will be performed to demonstrate if the disposable diapers are suitable for use in the NCS.

Although this work was reviewed by EPA and approved for publication, it may not necessarily reflect official Agency policy.

Record Details: