Researchers Examine BPA Exposure and Supposed Cardiovascular Risk

A recent study has allegedly backed previous research suggesting that higher exposures to bisphenol A (BPA) may elevate the risk for coronary artery disease (CAD). David Melzer, et al., “Urinary Bisphenol A: A Concentration and Risk of Future Coronary Artery Disease in Apparently healthy Men and Women,” Circulation, February 2012. Relying on data from the European Prospective Investigation of Cancer—Norfolk, .K., researchers evidently compared the urinary BPA concentrations of 758 “initially healthy” participants who later developed CAD, with the BPA measures of 851 participants who did not develop cardiovascular disease. Their findings apparently suggested that respondents with the highest urinary BPA concentrations at the outset were more likely to develop CAD over a 10-year follow-up period, with each 4.56 nanogram per milliliter (ng/Ml) increase in urinary BPA concentration associated with a 13 percent rise in CAD risk.

According to the study, these results parallel the “cross-sectional findings in the more highly exposed NHANES [National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey] 03/04 and 05/06 study respondents.” The researchers have thus called for further studies to determine the exact relationship between BPA dose and CAD, as well as to establish the underlying mechanism. “This study strengthens the statistical link between BPA and heart disease, but we can’t be certain that BPA itself is responsible,” one author was quoted as saying. “It is now important that government agencies organize drug style safety trials of BPA in humans, as much basic information about how BPA behaves in the human body is still unknown.” See Peninsula College of Medicine & Dentistry Press Release, February 23, 2012.