The New York Angler Cohort Study: exposure characterization and reproductive and developmental health

The New York State Angler Study will evaluate the association between past and current consumption of contaminated fish from Lake Ontario and both short- and long-term health effects in a population-based cohort. It will measure fish consumption and reproductive and developmental health among 10,518 male anglers and 6,651 of their wives or partners, as well as among 913 female anglers. To characterize exposure among subgroups of the cohort, further analytical methods were developed and implemented to measure specific polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) congeners, methylmercury, and other substances in biological samples. Exposure assessment has been completed for a stratified random sample of 321 anglers. In addition, analyses for 79 congeners of PCBs are complete for 177 anglers. A special study of duck and turtle consumers currently is underway. Telephone interviews have been completed with 2,454 of the 2,999 women who planned a pregnancy between 1991 and 1994. The entire cohort of male anglers, partners of male anglers, and female anglers has been submitted for matching with the New York State live birth and fetal death registries to obtain lifetime reproductive histories. A medical record abstraction study will assess perinatal and developmental outcomes among the 3,442 births that occurred between 1986 and 1991. Finally, a study of breast milk from currently lactating women is underway, and 215 breast milk samples have been collected from the planned pregnancy subcohort. Progress on each of the study components is discussed herein.