Biomonitoring Study of Urinary Bisphenol A Levels and Impact of Bottle-Feeding Practices Among Infants and Children From Northern India

To compare the urinary bisphenol A (BPA) levels in bottle-fed and never bottle-fed infants among the under-five children and to determine the impact of bottle-feeding practices and sociodemographic factors on urinary BPA levels in under-five children.

A community-based cross-sectional study was carried out on children aged between 2 to 60 months attending the Anganwadi centres in Chandigarh.

Urine samples were collected from 184 children, out of which 94.56% (n = 174) children had detectable urinary BPA levels. The mean (SD) BPA level was 2.74 (2.60) ng/ml and BPA was detected in 93.9% of ‘ever’ bottle-fed children (n = 93/99) and 95.3% of ‘never’ bottle-fed children (n = 81/85) (P = 0.69). On multivariate regression analysis, there were no significant predictors for high (≥ 75^th percentile) urinary BPA levels. Still, the odds of urinary BPA levels ≥ 75^th percentile showed higher trend for significance among children from middle/higher socioeconomic background in reference to lower socioeconomic stratum (adjusted OR 7.02; 95% CI 1.24, 133.25; P = 0.07) and among children whose feeding bottles were brushed once or twice daily in reference to group with no daily brushing (adjusted OR 3.92, 95% CI 0.95, 20.56; P = 0.07).

Although feeding with plastic bottle did not emerge as a statistically significant risk factor for BPA exposure, yet detection of BPA levels among majority of study children signals an urgent need for unmasking exposure to other sources given the potential long-term toxicity of BPA among infants and young children.