Aggregate exposure assessment using cosmetic co-use scenarios

Abstract

The “co-use” patterns of cosmetics would be critical for accurate aggregate exposure assessment. We proposed cosmetic co-use scenarios by analyzing the co-use patterns of Koreans. We conducted aggregate exposure assessments using the co-use scenarios and validated the new methodology by comparing the results to those of a receptor-based aggregate exposure assessment.The Korean national representative exposure factor database, which includes simultaneous usage patterns of 31 cosmetics by 1,001 subjects, was used to analyze the co-use patterns by Koreans. Frequent pattern mining was performed using the eclat algorithm. The number of cosmetics used and co-use pattern were influenced by gender and age of the population. The co-use patterns exhibited an additive property in that new cosmetics were added to previous cosmetic combinations. A co-use scenario was proposed using the rank of occurrence frequency in co-use patterns and percentile values of the number of cosmetics used. The 16 co-use scenarios represented to the 25th, 50th, 75th, and 95th percentiles of the co-use patterns for four gender-age groups.The aggregate exposures of di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP), di-n-butyl phthalate (DnBP) and diethyl phthalate (DEP) in cosmetics were estimated by co-use scenarios for cosmetics. The co-use scenario-based AED increased with the number of cosmetics in the co-use scenarios, and was higher in female and younger groups. The major contributors were body lotion for DEHP, nail polish for DnBP, and hair styling product in males and shower cologne in females for DEP. The distribution of the co-use scenario based AEDs displayed a similar trend to that of the receptor-based AEDs, with the 95th percentiles of the AED slightly underestimated in the co-use scenario. The aggregate exposure assessment methodology using co-use scenario could provide reasonable aggregate exposures with relatively few resources required.