Background: This study aimed to determine serum Bisphenol A (BPA) concentrations in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) as well as the association between serum BPA and several hormonal parameters in DCM patients compared with a healthy control group.
Materials and methods: Eighty-eight DCM patients and 88 age- and gender-matched healthy controls were included. Serum BPA levels and several hormonal parameters (including total testosterone (T), sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) and estradiol (E2) were measured by using corresponding ELISA Kits. The free androgen index (FAI) was calculated by the formula: total T in nmol/L × 100/SHBG in nmol/L.
Results: BPA levels in the total DCM group were significantly higher compared with that in the controls (6.9 ± 2.7 ng/mL vs. 3.8 ± 1.9 ng/mL, p < 0.001). Significant difference was also observed in SHBG and FAI between DCM patients and controls, (76.9 ± 30.9 nM/L vs. 41.0 ± 15.6 nM/L and 2.9 ± 3.5 vs.5.3 ± 2.6, respectively, both of p < 0.001). Similar trends were observed in the male and female subgroup. Mean T level was lower in DCM group than in control group (540.8 ± 186.0 pg/mL vs. 656.3 ± 112.9 pg/mL, p < 0.001). Linear regression analysis has shown that increasing serum BPA levels were statistically significantly associated with increased SHBG levels. However, no statistical difference was noted for E2.
Conclusion: Our findings firstly demonstrated that BPA exposure increased in DCM patients compared with that in healthy controls, while FAI and T levels decreased. SHBG presented a positive association with BPA. It is concluded that hormone disorder induced by BPA exposure might be an environmental factor in the pathology of DCM.
Keywords: Bisphenol A; dilated cardiomyopathy; sex hormone; sex hormone-binding globulin.