Environmental phenols are found in a wide range of common consumer products. They include preservatives in packaged foods, parabens in shampoos and bisphenol A (BPA) in plastic dishware, so humans have broad exposure to them, day in and day out. Some of these environmental phenols are known to have cardiac toxicities.
Now, an interdisciplinary study involving four University of Cincinnati College of Medicine professors is revealing their adverse impact on the heart 's electrical properties, and the research has been published in the journal Environmental Health. "This is the first study to look at the impact of phenol exposure on cardiac electrical activity in humans," said Hong-Sheng Wang, Ph.D.
, professor in the Department of Pharmacology, Physiology and Neurobiology and the study's lead author. Researchers used data from the Fernald Community Cohort, which includes nearly 10,000 people who lived near the former U.S.
Department of Energy uranium processing site at Fernald, outside Cincinnati, and participated in the Fernald Medical Monitoring Program between 1990 and 2008. Much of the cohort did not experience exposure to uranium beyond the radiation received by the general population. Wang and his team used their data, including biological samples and medical records, in the study so uranium exposure would not be a factor in the findings—making them relevant to the general population.
Because urine samples and electrocardiograms, or EKGs, were collected on the same day, .