The associations between volatile organic compounds exposure and urine flow rate in US adults: NHANES 2011-2020

Metabolites of volatile organic compounds (mVOCs) have attracted considerable attention in contemporary research. The urine flow rate (UFR) serves as an objective metric for a full evaluation of bladder function. This research aimed to investigate the correlation between mVOCs and UFR.

We examined mVOCs and UFR data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) between 2011 and 2020. The mVOCs measurements were subjected to log transformation to achieve normal distribution. We used weighted multivariate linear regression models to evaluate the association between mVOCs andUFR. The relationship between mVOCs mixture and UFR was assessed using three different analytical models: Bayesian kernel machine regression (BKMR), weighted quantile sum (WQS), and quantile g-computation (Qgcomp). An analysis stratified by gender was also conducted.

The research had 3,370 participants, of whom 1,703 (51%) were male. Multivariate linear regression revealed a negative correlation between increased mVOCs and UFR across all research cohorts (all P < 0.001). The BKMR model displayed a notable negative correlation, identifying N-Acetyl-S-(3,4-dihydroxybutyl)-L-cysteine (DHBMA) and Phenylglyoxylic acid (PGA) as possibly important chemicals. The WQS model exhibited a negative connection with UFR across the total cohort and its male and female subgroups, with all P values being less than 0.05. The findings of the Qgcomp model aligned with those of the WQS model.

Our data indicate a substantial negative connection between exposure to urinary mVOCs and UFR among US adults, with no notable gender differences seen.