Early-life exposure to multiple persistent organic pollutants and metals and birth weight: Pooled analysis in four Flemish birth cohorts
Background and aims: Prenatal chemical exposure has frequently been associated with reduced fetal growth although results have been inconsistent. Most studies associate single pollutant exposure to this health outcome, even though this does not reflect real life situations as humans are exposed to m...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Elsevier
2020-12-01
|
| Series: | Environment International |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412020321048 |
| _version_ | 1828900396472467456 |
|---|---|
| author | Eva Govarts Lützen Portengen Nathalie Lambrechts Liesbeth Bruckers Elly Den Hond Adrian Covaci Vera Nelen Tim S Nawrot Ilse Loots Isabelle Sioen Willy Baeyens Bert Morrens Greet Schoeters Roel Vermeulen |
| author_facet | Eva Govarts Lützen Portengen Nathalie Lambrechts Liesbeth Bruckers Elly Den Hond Adrian Covaci Vera Nelen Tim S Nawrot Ilse Loots Isabelle Sioen Willy Baeyens Bert Morrens Greet Schoeters Roel Vermeulen |
| author_sort | Eva Govarts |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background and aims: Prenatal chemical exposure has frequently been associated with reduced fetal growth although results have been inconsistent. Most studies associate single pollutant exposure to this health outcome, even though this does not reflect real life situations as humans are exposed to many pollutants during their life time. The objective of this study is to investigate the association between prenatal exposure to a mixture of persistent environmental chemicals and birth weight using multipollutant models. Methods: We combined exposure biomarker data measured in cord blood samples of 1579 women from four Flemish birth cohorts collected over a 10 years’ time period. The common set of available and detectable exposure measures in these cohorts are three polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) congeners (138, 153 and 180), hexachlorobenzene (HCB), dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (p,p’-DDE) and the metals cadmium and lead. Multiple linear regression (MLR), Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC), penalized regression using minimax concave penalty (MCP) and Bayesian Adaptive Sampling (BAS) were applied to assess the influence of multiple pollutants in a single analysis on birth weight, adjusted for a priori selected covariates. Results: In the pooled dataset, a median (P25-P75) birth weight and gestational age of 3420 (3140–3700) grams and 39 (39–40) weeks was observed respectively. The median contaminant levels in cord blood were: 15.8, 26.5, 18.0, 16.9 and 91.5 ng/g lipid for PCB 138, PCB 153, PCB 180, HCB and p,p’-DDE, respectively, 0.075 µg/L for cadmium and 9.7 µg/L for lead. According to the applied statistical methods for multipollutant assessment, p,p’-DDE and PCB 180 were most consistently associated with birth weight. In addition, PCB 153 was selected when applying MCP and BAS. An inverse association with birth weight was found for the PCB congeners, while an increased birth weight was observed for elevated levels of p,p’-DDE. Conclusions: Assessing the health risk of combinations of exposure biomarkers reflects better real-world situations and thereby allows more effective risk assessment. Our results add to the existing evidence based on detrimental effects of PCBs on birth weight and indicate a possible increase in birth weight due to p,p’-DDE (while correcting for PCBs). |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-13T15:46:29Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c42cca158ea14b9baa299237422ca5d0 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0160-4120 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-13T15:46:29Z |
| publishDate | 2020-12-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environment International |
| spelling | doaj.art-c42cca158ea14b9baa299237422ca5d02022-12-21T23:39:41ZengElsevierEnvironment International0160-41202020-12-01145106149Early-life exposure to multiple persistent organic pollutants and metals and birth weight: Pooled analysis in four Flemish birth cohortsEva Govarts0Lützen Portengen1Nathalie Lambrechts2Liesbeth Bruckers3Elly Den Hond4Adrian Covaci5Vera Nelen6Tim S Nawrot7Ilse Loots8Isabelle Sioen9Willy Baeyens10Bert Morrens11Greet Schoeters12Roel Vermeulen13VITO Health, Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), Mol, Belgium; Corresponding author at: Health, Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), Boeretang 200, 2400 Mol, Belgium.Division of Environmental Epidemiology, Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the NetherlandsVITO Health, Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), Mol, BelgiumInteruniversity Institute for Biostatistics and Statistical Bioinformatics, Hasselt University, Diepenbeek, BelgiumProvincial Institute of Hygiene, Antwerp, BelgiumToxicological Centre, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, BelgiumProvincial Institute of Hygiene, Antwerp, BelgiumCentre for Environmental Sciences, Hasselt University, Diepenbeek, Belgium; Leuven University, Department of Public Health & Primary Care, Leuven, BelgiumFaculty Social Sciences, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, BelgiumDepartment of Public Health, Ghent University, Ghent, BelgiumDepartment of Analytical, Environmental and Geochemistry (AMGC), Free University Brussels (VUB), Brussels, BelgiumFaculty Social Sciences, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, BelgiumVITO Health, Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), Mol, Belgium; Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium; University of Southern Denmark, Institute of Public Health, Department of Environmental Medicine, Odense, DenmarkDivision of Environmental Epidemiology, Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands; Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, the NetherlandsBackground and aims: Prenatal chemical exposure has frequently been associated with reduced fetal growth although results have been inconsistent. Most studies associate single pollutant exposure to this health outcome, even though this does not reflect real life situations as humans are exposed to many pollutants during their life time. The objective of this study is to investigate the association between prenatal exposure to a mixture of persistent environmental chemicals and birth weight using multipollutant models. Methods: We combined exposure biomarker data measured in cord blood samples of 1579 women from four Flemish birth cohorts collected over a 10 years’ time period. The common set of available and detectable exposure measures in these cohorts are three polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) congeners (138, 153 and 180), hexachlorobenzene (HCB), dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (p,p’-DDE) and the metals cadmium and lead. Multiple linear regression (MLR), Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC), penalized regression using minimax concave penalty (MCP) and Bayesian Adaptive Sampling (BAS) were applied to assess the influence of multiple pollutants in a single analysis on birth weight, adjusted for a priori selected covariates. Results: In the pooled dataset, a median (P25-P75) birth weight and gestational age of 3420 (3140–3700) grams and 39 (39–40) weeks was observed respectively. The median contaminant levels in cord blood were: 15.8, 26.5, 18.0, 16.9 and 91.5 ng/g lipid for PCB 138, PCB 153, PCB 180, HCB and p,p’-DDE, respectively, 0.075 µg/L for cadmium and 9.7 µg/L for lead. According to the applied statistical methods for multipollutant assessment, p,p’-DDE and PCB 180 were most consistently associated with birth weight. In addition, PCB 153 was selected when applying MCP and BAS. An inverse association with birth weight was found for the PCB congeners, while an increased birth weight was observed for elevated levels of p,p’-DDE. Conclusions: Assessing the health risk of combinations of exposure biomarkers reflects better real-world situations and thereby allows more effective risk assessment. Our results add to the existing evidence based on detrimental effects of PCBs on birth weight and indicate a possible increase in birth weight due to p,p’-DDE (while correcting for PCBs).http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412020321048Organochlorine compoundsMultipollutant modelsBirth weightPooled analysis |
| spellingShingle | Eva Govarts Lützen Portengen Nathalie Lambrechts Liesbeth Bruckers Elly Den Hond Adrian Covaci Vera Nelen Tim S Nawrot Ilse Loots Isabelle Sioen Willy Baeyens Bert Morrens Greet Schoeters Roel Vermeulen Early-life exposure to multiple persistent organic pollutants and metals and birth weight: Pooled analysis in four Flemish birth cohorts Environment International Organochlorine compounds Multipollutant models Birth weight Pooled analysis |
| title | Early-life exposure to multiple persistent organic pollutants and metals and birth weight: Pooled analysis in four Flemish birth cohorts |
| title_full | Early-life exposure to multiple persistent organic pollutants and metals and birth weight: Pooled analysis in four Flemish birth cohorts |
| title_fullStr | Early-life exposure to multiple persistent organic pollutants and metals and birth weight: Pooled analysis in four Flemish birth cohorts |
| title_full_unstemmed | Early-life exposure to multiple persistent organic pollutants and metals and birth weight: Pooled analysis in four Flemish birth cohorts |
| title_short | Early-life exposure to multiple persistent organic pollutants and metals and birth weight: Pooled analysis in four Flemish birth cohorts |
| title_sort | early life exposure to multiple persistent organic pollutants and metals and birth weight pooled analysis in four flemish birth cohorts |
| topic | Organochlorine compounds Multipollutant models Birth weight Pooled analysis |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412020321048 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT evagovarts earlylifeexposuretomultiplepersistentorganicpollutantsandmetalsandbirthweightpooledanalysisinfourflemishbirthcohorts AT lutzenportengen earlylifeexposuretomultiplepersistentorganicpollutantsandmetalsandbirthweightpooledanalysisinfourflemishbirthcohorts AT nathalielambrechts earlylifeexposuretomultiplepersistentorganicpollutantsandmetalsandbirthweightpooledanalysisinfourflemishbirthcohorts AT liesbethbruckers earlylifeexposuretomultiplepersistentorganicpollutantsandmetalsandbirthweightpooledanalysisinfourflemishbirthcohorts AT ellydenhond earlylifeexposuretomultiplepersistentorganicpollutantsandmetalsandbirthweightpooledanalysisinfourflemishbirthcohorts AT adriancovaci earlylifeexposuretomultiplepersistentorganicpollutantsandmetalsandbirthweightpooledanalysisinfourflemishbirthcohorts AT veranelen earlylifeexposuretomultiplepersistentorganicpollutantsandmetalsandbirthweightpooledanalysisinfourflemishbirthcohorts AT timsnawrot earlylifeexposuretomultiplepersistentorganicpollutantsandmetalsandbirthweightpooledanalysisinfourflemishbirthcohorts AT ilseloots earlylifeexposuretomultiplepersistentorganicpollutantsandmetalsandbirthweightpooledanalysisinfourflemishbirthcohorts AT isabellesioen earlylifeexposuretomultiplepersistentorganicpollutantsandmetalsandbirthweightpooledanalysisinfourflemishbirthcohorts AT willybaeyens earlylifeexposuretomultiplepersistentorganicpollutantsandmetalsandbirthweightpooledanalysisinfourflemishbirthcohorts AT bertmorrens earlylifeexposuretomultiplepersistentorganicpollutantsandmetalsandbirthweightpooledanalysisinfourflemishbirthcohorts AT greetschoeters earlylifeexposuretomultiplepersistentorganicpollutantsandmetalsandbirthweightpooledanalysisinfourflemishbirthcohorts AT roelvermeulen earlylifeexposuretomultiplepersistentorganicpollutantsandmetalsandbirthweightpooledanalysisinfourflemishbirthcohorts |