Table 2.

Statistical investigation [correlation coefficients (r)] of the co-occurrence of the various pollutants and hormonal activities present in the effluents sampled.

	E1	E2	EE2	NP	YAS
E2	0.72#
	n = 28
EE2	0.35*	0.56**
	n = 22	n = 22
NP	0.77#	0.45*	0.26 NS
	n = 30	n = 28	n = 22
YAS	0.48**	0.22 NS	0.00 NS	0.62**
	n = 30	n = 28	n = 22	n = 30
YES	0.49**	0.44*	0.51*	0.15 NS	−0.25 NS
	n = 30	n = 28	n = 22	n = 30	n = 30

NS, not significant. The steroidal estrogen E₂ and its metabolite E₁ were highly correlated (E₂ is oxidized to E₁). EE₂ (the contraceptive pill hormone) was also associated with E₂, as expected. We found no correlation between the total estrogenic (YES) and total antiandrogenic (anti-YAS) activities, indicating that the chemicals inducing these two hormonal activities are likely to be different.

^*p < 0.05.

^** p < 0.01.

^#p < 0.001.