Phthalates, a family of chemicals used to soften plastic tubes, catheters and other medical devices, have now been found to have a negative effect on the health of children who had contact while in the hospital. A new study specifically found that when the chemicals enter a child’s blood stream they can have an impact on the development of attention deficit issues.
The research comes out of two Belgium institutions, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and the University of Antwerp. The study looked at 449 children, most of which previously received care in a a pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) that involved the use of one to 12 medical tubes, and then four years after were tested to analyze any abnormal neurocognitive symptoms. The control group included 100 healthy children.
Specifically, they looked at the presence of Di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP) metabolites in the blood of the subjects whose treatment took place anywhere from newborn to age 16.
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The DEHP metabolite levels weren’t present in the blood of the health children, but those who had been exposed to devices in the hospital had very high levels. Although they decreased over time, the researchers, who published the report in the March 2016 issue of Intensive Care Medicine, asserted that the children with high levels were also more likely had attention deficit problems as they got older, implying a direct correlation.
Currently in the U.S., six types of phthalates have been banned from use in children’s toys (rubber duckies for example) for health risks, but they are still present in so many of the devices that are designed to be flexible or pliable.
These findings could (should) have an impact on how new devices of these kinds are developed moving forward.
