Pregnant women exposed to higher levels of PFAS more likely to have children with high BMI
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Key takeaways:
- Pregnant women exposed to higher levels of seven PFAS chemicals had children with a higher BMI z score at age 2 to 5 years.
- Exposure to PFAS during pregnancy also increased obesity risk for offspring.
Women exposed to higher concentrations of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances during pregnancy have children with higher BMI z scores and greater risks for overweight or obesity at age 2 to 5 years, according to study data.
“This is the largest study of its type, and we found that higher per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) concentrations assessed in pregnancy are associated with slightly higher childhood BMI and increased risk of overweight or obesity,” Yun Liu, PhD, postdoctoral research associate in the department of epidemiology at Brown University School of Public Health, and Joseph M. Braun, PhD, professor in the department of epidemiology at Brown University School of Public Health, told Healio. “Although the effect sizes observed in the present analysis were subtle, they may have large population level effects due to the ubiquity of PFAS exposure and high prevalence of pediatric obesity and overweight.”
Liu, Braun and colleagues collected data from 1,391 mother-child pairs from the Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) program, a collaborative consortium that collects data from pregnancy and birth cohorts in the U.S. to understand the impact of environmental exposures from conception through early childhood. Mothers who had maternal serum or plasma PFAS measured during pregnancy and had a BMI calculation available for their child at age 2 to 5 years were included. Seven individual PFAS chemicals were analyzed. Weight and height data were collected from the ECHO cohort databases. Age- and sex-standardized BMI z scores were calculated using the 2000 CDC growth reference for U.S. children.
The findings were published in Environmental Health Perspectives.
Of the seven PFAS chemicals included in the study, perfluorooctanoic acid, perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS), perfluorononanoic acid and perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (PFHxS) were detected in more than 98% of mothers. Perfluorodecanoic acid, perfluroundecanoic acid (PFUnDA) and N-methyl perfluorooctane sulfonamido acetic acid (NMFOSAA) were measured in more than 65% of mothers.
After adjusting for covariates, exposure to PFAS during pregnancy was associated with higher childhood BMI z scores at age 2 to 5 years; PFHxS had the strongest association with BMI z score (beta = 0.07; 95% CI, 0.01-0.12). Exposure to higher concentrations of PFAS was also associated with a higher risk for overweight or obesity, with the largest increased risk observed with increased exposure to PFOS (RR = 1.12; 95% CI, 1.01-1.24).
There was no monotonic dose-response association observed between PFAS exposure and BMI z scores. However, children exposed to the highest quintile of NMFOSAA in utero had a 33% higher risk for overweight or obesity compared with those in the lowest quintile. Similarly, those in the highest quintile for PFUnDA exposure had a 51% higher risk for overweight or obesity compared with the lowest quintile.
“Our findings show that even though PFAS exposure has decreased, pregnant mothers today are still exposed, and their children could also be at risk of harmful health effects related to early-life exposure to PFAS,” Liu and Braun said. “There are ways to reduce exposure to PFAS in pregnancy. Pregnant mothers could use filters containing activated carbon or reverse osmosis membranes to remove PFAS from their drinking water. Pregnant mothers could eat less takeout food because the cardboard takeout container is one of the most common types of food packaging containing PFAS, and PFAS can be leaching into food from food containers. Frequent cleaning using HEPA filters while vacuuming could limit some PFAS exposure by avoiding PFAS in indoor dust.”
Liu and Braun said their team is planning another study using data from ECHO to examine associations between PFAS exposure and BMI trajectories from early childhood to pre-adolescence.
For more information:
Joseph M. Braun, PhD, can be reached at joseph_braun_1@brown.edu.
Yun Liu, PhD, can be reached at yun_liu@brown.edu.
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