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. 2009 Apr;117(4):660-7.
doi: 10.1289/ehp.11681. Epub 2008 Nov 4.

Correlations between prenatal exposure to perfluorinated chemicals and reduced fetal growth

Noriaki Washino  1 , Yasuaki Saijo, Seiko Sasaki, Shizue Kato, Susumu Ban, Kanae Konishi, Rie Ito, Ayako Nakata, Yusuke Iwasaki, Koichi Saito, Hiroyuki Nakazawa, Reiko Kishi
Affiliations

Correlations between prenatal exposure to perfluorinated chemicals and reduced fetal growth

Noriaki Washino et al. Environ Health Perspect. 2009 Apr.

Abstract

Background: Perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoate (PFOA) are man-made, ubiquitous, and persistent contaminants in the environment, wildlife, and humans. Although recent studies have shown that these chemicals interfere with fetal growth in humans, the results are inconsistent.

Objectives: Our goal was to investigate the correlation between relatively low levels of PFOS and PFOA in maternal serum and birth weight and birth size.

Methods: We conducted a hospital-based prospective cohort study between July 2002 and October 2005 in Sapporo, Japan. A total of 428 women and their infants were involved in the study. We obtained characteristics of the mothers and infants from self-administered questionnaire surveys and from medical records. We analyzed maternal serum samples for PFOS and PFOA by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS).

Results: After adjusting for confounding factors, PFOS levels negatively correlated with birth weight [per log10 unit: beta = -148.8 g; 95% confidence interval (CI), -297.0 to -0.5 g]. In addition, analyses stratified by sex revealed that PFOS levels negatively correlated with birth weight only in female infants (per log10 unit: beta = -269.4 g; 95% CI, -465.7 to -73.0 g). However, we observed no correlation between PFOA levels and birth weight.

Conclusion: Our results indicate that in utero exposure to relatively low levels of PFOS was negatively correlated with birth weight.

Keywords: birth weight; chest circumference; fetal growth; head circumference; length; perfluorinated chemicals; perfluorooctane sulfonate; perfluorooctanoate; prenatal exposure.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Box and whisker plots of PFOS and PFOA concentrations in maternal serum. Horizontal lines inside boxes indicate the median, boxes represent the interquartile range, whiskers indicate the most extreme data points < 1.5 times the interquartile range from the ends of the box, and circles indicate outliers. Subjects with PFOA level < 0.5 ng/mL are noted as 0.25 ng/mL.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Birth weight in both male and female infants and log10 maternal PFOS concentrations, before and after adjustment for potential confounders. The black line denotes the predicted fit from a simple linear regression model (birth weight = 3068.6–15.1 log10 PFOS); the gray line denotes the predicted fit from the fully adjusted multivariate regression model (birth weight = 3127.3–148.8 log10 PFOS). Table 5 presents corresponding regression coefficients.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Birth weight and log10 PFOS concentrations in females, before and after adjustment for potential confounders. The black line denotes the predicted fit from a simple linear regression model (birth weight = 3087.8–90.7 log10 PFOS); the gray line denotes the predicted fit from the fully adjusted multivariate regression model (birth weight = 3163.4–269.4 log10 PFOS). Table 7 presents corresponding regression coefficients.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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