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Assessing the most effective times of day to take urine tests among pregnant women


October 15, 2014

Dr. Mark Walker has published a paper in the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental concerning the use of urine tests taken from women during pregnancy to analyze levels of phthalates and bisphenol A (BPA). BPA is thought to disrupt normal hormone levels and development in fetuses. Traditionally, studies have relied on single spot urine analyses to assess exposure; ignoring variability in concentrations throughout a day or over a longer period of time. Dr. Walker and his team compared BPA and phthalate metabolite results from urine samples collected at five different time points. Dr. Walker concluded that a more accurate way to estimate average exposure across a pregnancy is to do more than one measurement at different times of day, rather than a single spot measurement. Read the study.

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