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Maternal exposure to flame retardants linked to preterm delivery
Expecting mothers exposed to high levels of polybrominated diphenyl ethers, widely used in flame retardants for the past 4 decades, could be at increased risk for delivering early, according to research published in the Journal of Reproductive Immunology.
“Preterm birth is the leading cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality and can be precursor to lifelong disabilities such as cerebral palsy,” Morgan R. Peltier, PhD, of Winthrop University Hospital in Mineola, N.Y., told Endocrine Today.
Peltier and colleagues from other institutions quantified polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE)-47 in plasma samples collected from pregnant women upon hospital admission for labor and delivery.
“In this study, we found that women with greater levels of PBDE-47, a biomarker for flame retardant exposure, in their blood had higher rates of spontaneous preterm birth,” Peltier said.
The researchers selected PBDE-47 because it was the most common congener in plasma samples gathered at the time of labor from women who subsequently had term or preterm delivery (before 37 weeks gestation).
“The best known maternal risk factor is a prior history of preterm birth, but nearly 90% of all preterm births occur in women who are either on their first pregnancy, or have only had previous term births and are considered to be relatively low risk,” Peltier said. “There is a critical need to identify other factors that may increase the risk of this common condition.”
The scientists grouped women into categories — very low, low, medium, high or very high — according to PBDE-47 concentration. Women who delivered preterm were more likely to score higher on the scale (P<.001), based on probit regression analysis.
Compared with women with very low levels of PBDE-47, women with high (OR=3.8; 95 CI, 1.6-9.7) or very high (OR=5.6; 95% CI, 2.2-15.2) concentrations demonstrated greater odds for having a preterm delivery.
The significance of the results rose after adjusting for maternal race, age and marital status.
With more than 15 million babies around the world born preterm each year, of whom more than 1 million die shortly after birth, preterm birth is the second leading cause of death in children younger than 5 years, according to a press release.
“Our current studies are focused on confirming these findings with prospectively collected samples in a different patient population, determining if there is a cause-effect relationship between flame retardant exposure and preterm birth using animal models, and identifying the mechanism(s) by which PBDEs function to disrupt pregnancy,” Peltier said.
“PBDEs can function as thyroid hormone disruptors with which they have some structural similarity, and we are exploring that possible mechanism first,” he said. – by Allegra Tiver
For more information:
Morgan R. Peltier, PhD, can be reached at Winthrop University Hospital, 222 Station Plaza N., Suite 604, Mineola, NY 11501; email: mpeltier@winthrop.org.
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.