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Long-term Behavioral and Reproductive Consequences of Embryonic Exposure to Low-dose Toxicants
Published on: March 6, 2018
Associations of prenatal exposure to bisphenols with infant anthropometry: A prospective cohort study
Yao Chen1, Zhaofeng Zhang1, Gengsheng He2
1Shanghai-MOST Key Laboratory of Health and Disease Genomics, NHC Key Lab of Reproduction Regulation, Shanghai Institute for Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Technologies, Department of Public Health, Fudan University, Shanghai 200237, China.
Insights
Prenatal exposure to bisphenols (BPs) and their mixtures is linked to increased infant growth measurements and higher risks of rapid growth and overweight. This suggests altered growth trajectories may occur in infants exposed to these common chemicals.
Area of Science:
- Environmental Health
- Developmental Toxicology
- Epidemiology
Background:
- Bisphenols (BPs) are endocrine-disrupting chemicals with known developmental toxicities.
- Previous studies on prenatal BPs exposure and infant growth have been limited in scope and reported inconsistent findings.
- The combined effects of BPs mixtures on infant growth remain understudied.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the associations between prenatal exposure to individual bisphenols (BPA, BPF, BPS, BPAF, TCBPA) and their mixture with infant growth.
- To examine the impact of BPs exposure on anthropometric measurements, rapid growth, and overweight in infants.
- To identify key bisphenol components contributing to mixture effects.
Main Methods:
- Quantified urinary bisphenol concentrations in pregnant women.
- Collected infant anthropometric data (weight, BMI, skinfold, circumference) at birth, 6, and 12 months.
- Employed multiple linear regression and Bayesian kernel machine regression (BKMR) models to assess individual and mixture effects, and modified Poisson regression for risk assessment.
Main Results:
- Higher prenatal exposure to BPA, BPF, and BPS was associated with increased infant anthropometric measurements and overweight risk.
- Prenatal BPs exposure was linked to significantly higher risks of rapid infant growth (Risk Ratios 1.46-1.91).
- BKMR and regression models confirmed individual and mixture effects, with sex-specific associations observed (e.g., BPA, BPF, BPS in girls; BPF in boys).
Conclusions:
- Prenatal exposure to bisphenols and their mixtures can lead to increased offspring anthropometric measurements during infancy.
- These findings suggest potential alterations in infant growth trajectories due to prenatal bisphenol exposure.
- Further research is warranted to understand the long-term implications of these growth changes.
Background:
Bisphenols (BPs) have been shown to exhibit developmental toxicities. Epidemiological evidence on prenatal BPs exposure and infant growth primarily confined scopes to specific BPs and birth outcomes, with few studies focusing on infant growth and reporting inconsistent findings. The joint effect of prenatal exposure to BPs mixture on infant growth was rarely studied.
Objective:
This study examined associations of prenatal exposure to individual bisphenol A (BPA) and its analogues (bisphenol F [BPF], bisphenol S [BPS], bisphenol AF [BPAF], and tetrachlorobisphenol A [TCBPA]) and their mixture with infant growth.
Methods:
Urinary concentrations of BPs in pregnant women were quantified. Weight, body mass index, skinfold thickness, and circumference measurements of infants were collected at birth, 6 and 12 months of age, rapid growth and overweight were further defined. Multiple linear regression models and Bayesian kernel machine regression models (BKMR) were used to analyze associations of exposure to individual BPs and BPs mixture with infants' anthropometric measurements, and to identify the important components among mixture. The risks for rapid growth and overweight of each BP were determined using modified Poisson regression models.
Results:
A general profile of higher prenatal BPs exposure (mainly BPA, BPF, and BPS) associated with higher anthropometric measurements and higher risks of overweight during infancy was found. We also observed higher risks of rapid growth in infants following prenatal BPs exposure, with risk ratios ranging from 1.46 to 1.91. The joint effect of BPs mixture and single effect of each BP from the BKMR models were consistent with findings from the linear regression models, further suggesting that associations in girls were generally driven by BPA, BPF, or BPS, while in boys mainly by BPF.
Conclusion:
Prenatal exposure to BPs and their mixture could increase anthropometric measurements of offspring during infancy, with implications of altered growth trajectory in future.
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