Association between phthalates and sleep problems in the U.S. adult females from NHANES 2011-2014

There is little research on the relationship between phthalates exposure and sleep problems in adult females, with existing studies only assessing the association between exposure to individual phthalates with sleep problems. We aimed to analyse the relationship between phthalates and sleep problems in 1366 US females aged 20 years and older from the 2011-2014 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) by age stratification. Multivariate logistic regression showed that the fourth quartile of MECPP increased the risk of sleep problems in females aged 20–39 compared with the reference quartile (OR: 1.87, 95% CI: 1.14, 3.08). The WQS index was significantly associated with the sleep problems in females aged 20–39. In the BKMR, a positive overall trend between the mixture and sleep problems in females aged 20–39. In this study, we concluded that phthalates might increase the risk of sleep problems in females aged 20–39.