Association of urine parabens with liver function in US adolescents based on NHANES 2007-2016

Paraben esters are commonly used as preservatives in cosmetics, personal hygiene products, food and drugs. However, there is a lack of evidence regarding the impact of exposure to Paraben esters on adolescent liver function. We analyzed data from the 2007-2016 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Finally, a random sample of 1845 adolescents aged 12 to 19 was selected for the study. The effect of urinary parabens on liver function indexes was analyzed using weighted linear regression to ensure accurate representation of the population. Then, we applied the weighted quantile sum (WQS) analysis and the Bayesian kernel machine regression (BKMR) to examine the associations between parabens and liver function indicators. Based on the results from three different models, four parabens and their total were negatively associated with Albumin (ALB) and Alkaline Phosphatase (ALP), and positively associated with Total Bilirubin (TBIL). Moreover, among the parabens, butyl paraben and propyl paraben had the highest weights. Overall, our results indicate that parabens are significantly but weakly associated with changes in liver function in US adolescents. Further research is needed to explore these relationships.