Determination of plasticizer levels in serum of hemodialysis patients

Serum DEHP levels were measured on 27 hemodialysis patients at various time intervals. The following results were obtained: 1) Predialysis levels of DEHP occurred in only one of 22 samples. 2) Postdialysis serum levels reached a mean of 751 nGm DEHP/ml serum. 3) Samples from patients with less than 50 hemodialysis treatments gave a mean of 558 nGm/ml, while those with more than 50 treatments gave a mean of 973 nGM/ml. These numbers were found to be significantly different at a 95% confidence level. 4) No difference in DEHP levels were found for males and females. 5) The appearance of DEHP during dialysis and its disappearance after dialysis were found to be biphasic. 6) No correlation was found between serum DEHP and triglyceride levels in postdialysis serum samples.