Personal Care Product Use in Pregnancy and the Postpartum Period: Implications for Exposure Assessment

Carly Lang, Mandy Fisher, Angelica Neisa, Leona MacKinnon, Sandra Kuchta, Susan MacPherson, Adam Probert and Tye E. Arbuckle
Additional contact information
Carly Lang: Independent Research Nurse Consultant, Ottawa, ON K1A 0K9, Canada
Mandy Fisher: Population Studies Division, Environmental Health Science and Research Bureau, Health Canada, 50 Colombine Dr., AL 0801A, Ottawa, ON K1A 0K9, Canada
Angelica Neisa: Population Studies Division, Environmental Health Science and Research Bureau, Health Canada, 50 Colombine Dr., AL 0801A, Ottawa, ON K1A 0K9, Canada
Leona MacKinnon: Population Studies Division, Environmental Health Science and Research Bureau, Health Canada, 50 Colombine Dr., AL 0801A, Ottawa, ON K1A 0K9, Canada
Sandra Kuchta: Population Studies Division, Environmental Health Science and Research Bureau, Health Canada, 50 Colombine Dr., AL 0801A, Ottawa, ON K1A 0K9, Canada
Susan MacPherson: Population Studies Division, Environmental Health Science and Research Bureau, Health Canada, 50 Colombine Dr., AL 0801A, Ottawa, ON K1A 0K9, Canada
Adam Probert: Population Studies Division, Environmental Health Science and Research Bureau, Health Canada, 50 Colombine Dr., AL 0801A, Ottawa, ON K1A 0K9, Canada
Tye E. Arbuckle: Population Studies Division, Environmental Health Science and Research Bureau, Health Canada, 50 Colombine Dr., AL 0801A, Ottawa, ON K1A 0K9, Canada

IJERPH, 2016, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-20

Abstract: Concern regarding the potential for developmental health risks associated with certain chemicals (e.g., phthalates, antibacterials) used in personal care products is well documented; however, current exposure data for pregnant women are limited. The objective of this study was to describe the pattern of personal care product use in pregnancy and the post-partum period. Usage patterns of personal care products were collected at six different time points during pregnancy and once in the postpartum period for a cohort of 80 pregnant women in Ottawa, Canada. The pattern of use was then described and groups of personal care product groups commonly used together were identified using hierarchical cluster analysis. The results showed that product use varied by income and country of birth. General hygiene products were the most commonly used products and were consistently used over time while cosmetic product use declined with advancing pregnancy and post-delivery. Hand soaps and baby products were reported as used more frequently after birth. This study is the first to track personal care product use across pregnancy and into the postpartum period, and suggests that pregnant populations may be a unique group of personal care product users. This information will be useful for exposure assessments.

Keywords: personal care products; pregnancy; reproductive health; exposure; use patterns; concurrent use (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/13/1/105/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/13/1/105/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:13:y:2016:i:1:p:105-:d:61771

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().