The study, published in the journal JAMA Network Open, noted that BPA is so common that 90 percent of urine samples from the general population contain trace amounts of the chemical. Newsweek noted that BPA is prevalent in many kinds of plastics and resins. Besides the aforementioned items, it’s also found in sports equipment, medical devices and water pipes. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cite its presence in dental sealants, compact disks, plastic dinnerware, car parts, impact-resistant safety equipment and even toys. Until a decade ago, it was also present in baby bottles, sippy cups and infant formula containers, CNN reported.

To understand the role that BPA exposure may play in premature death, a group of researchers led by Wei Bao, an assistant professor in the College of Public Health at the University of Iowa, looked at nearly 4,000 adults who took part in the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 2003-2008, Newsweek reported.

A decade after the study, nearly 10 percent of the participants had died. The researchers found that people with the highest BPA levels had a 51 percent higher risk of death from any cause, whether from cancer, heart disease or an accident, Newsweek reported.