Sociodemographic and Perinatal Predictors of Early Pregnancy Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substance (PFAS) Concentrations
Sharon K Sagiv1,2, Sheryl L Rifas-Shiman3, Thomas F Webster2
1Division of Epidemiology, University of California , Berkeley, California 94720-739, United States.
Insights
Early pregnancy exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) is linked to maternal factors like age and BMI. Kidney function and albumin levels also influence PFAS concentrations in pregnant women.
Area of Science:
- Environmental Health
- Toxicology
- Reproductive Health
Background:
- Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are persistent environmental contaminants with suspected developmental toxicity.
- Ubiquitous exposure to PFASs raises concerns regarding potential health impacts, particularly during sensitive developmental periods like early pregnancy.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the associations between sociodemographic, perinatal factors, and pregnancy physiology with plasma PFAS concentrations in early pregnancy.
- To identify predictors of PFAS levels in a cohort of pregnant women.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of plasma PFAS concentrations (PFOS, PFOA, PFHxS, PFNA) in 1645 women from the Project Viva cohort (1999-2002).
- Multivariable linear regression was used to assess associations with sociodemographic variables, parity, breastfeeding history, prepregnancy BMI, albumin, and glomerular filtration rate (GFR).
Main Results:
- Higher PFAS concentrations were associated with younger maternal age, lower educational attainment, nulliparity, no breastfeeding history, and higher prepregnancy BMI.
- Lower GFR was linked to 3-4% higher PFAS levels, while higher albumin was associated with 4-6% higher PFAS levels.
Conclusions:
- Maternal characteristics and physiological measures, including GFR and albumin, are significant predictors of early pregnancy PFAS concentrations.
- These physiological factors may confound epidemiological studies examining PFAS-related health outcomes in pregnancy.
Abstract:
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs), used in food packaging and stain-resistant coatings, are suspected developmental toxicants that are ubiquitous and persistent in the environment. We measured plasma PFAS concentrations during early pregnancy (median = 9.7 weeks gestation) among 1645 women in the Boston-area Project Viva cohort, recruited during 1999-2002. We used multivariable linear regression to estimate associations of sociodemographic and perinatal predictors, including measures of pregnancy physiology (albumin, glomerular filtration rate (GFR)), with log-transformed plasma PFAS concentrations. Geometric mean concentrations for the four main PFASs, perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS), perfluorooctanoate (PFOA), perfluorohexanesulfonate (PFHxS) and perfluorononanoate (PFNA) were 25.4, 5.7, 2.5, and 0.6 ng/mL, respectively, comparable with general U.S. population concentrations during those years. Higher early pregnancy PFAS concentrations were associated with younger age (except PFNA), less educational attainment, nulliparity, no history of breastfeeding and higher prepregnancy body mass index in adjusted models. In addition, lower GFR was associated with 3-4% higher PFAS concentrations and higher albumin was associated with 4-6% higher PFAS concentrations. Our results show associations consistent (parity and breastfeeding) and less consistent (age and education) with previous studies. We also report associations with GFR and albumin, which were strongly related to PFAS concentrations and thus could confound estimates of PFAS-outcome associations in epidemiologic studies.
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