TY - JOUR
T1 - Maternal exposure to airborne polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and risk of adverse birth outcomes
AU - Kofoed, Ane Bungum
AU - Deen, Laura
AU - Hougaard, Karin Sorig
AU - Petersen, Kajsa Ugelvig
AU - Meyer, Harald William
AU - Pedersen, Ellen Botker
AU - Ebbehoj, Niels Erik
AU - Heitmann, Berit Lilienthal
AU - Bonde, Jens Peter
AU - Tottenborg, Sandra Sogaard
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - Human health effects of airborne lower-chlorinated polychlorinated biphenyls (LC-PCBs) are largely unexplored. Since PCBs may cross the placenta, maternal exposure could potentially have negative consequences for fetal development. We aimed to determine if exposure to airborne PCB during pregnancy was associated with adverse birth outcomes. In this cohort study, exposed women had lived in PCB contaminated apartments at least one year during the 3.6 years before conception or the entire first trimester of pregnancy. The women and their children were followed for birth outcomes in Danish health registers. Logistic regression was performed to estimate odds ratios (OR) for changes in secondary sex ratio, preterm birth, major congenital malformations, cryptorchidism, and being born small for gestational age. We performed linear regression to estimate difference in birth weight among children of exposed and unexposed mothers. All models were adjusted for maternal age, educational level, ethnicity, and calendar time. We identified 885 exposed pregnancies and 3327 unexposed pregnancies. Relative to unexposed women, exposed women had OR 0.97 (95% CI 0.82, 1.15) for secondary sex ratio, OR 1.13 (95% CI 0.76, 1.67) for preterm birth, OR 1.28 (95% CI 0.81, 2.01) for having a child with major malformations, OR 1.73 (95% CI 1.01, 2.95) for cryptorchidism and OR 1.23 (95% CI 0.88, 1.72) for giving birth to a child born small for gestational age. The difference in birth weight for children of exposed compared to unexposed women was - 32 g (95% CI-79, 14). We observed an increased risk of cryptorchidism among boys after maternal airborne LC-PCB exposure, but due to the proxy measure of exposure, inability to perform dose-response analyses, and the lack of comparable literature, larger cohort studies with direct measures of exposure are needed to investigate the safety of airborne LC-PCB exposure during pregnancy
AB - Human health effects of airborne lower-chlorinated polychlorinated biphenyls (LC-PCBs) are largely unexplored. Since PCBs may cross the placenta, maternal exposure could potentially have negative consequences for fetal development. We aimed to determine if exposure to airborne PCB during pregnancy was associated with adverse birth outcomes. In this cohort study, exposed women had lived in PCB contaminated apartments at least one year during the 3.6 years before conception or the entire first trimester of pregnancy. The women and their children were followed for birth outcomes in Danish health registers. Logistic regression was performed to estimate odds ratios (OR) for changes in secondary sex ratio, preterm birth, major congenital malformations, cryptorchidism, and being born small for gestational age. We performed linear regression to estimate difference in birth weight among children of exposed and unexposed mothers. All models were adjusted for maternal age, educational level, ethnicity, and calendar time. We identified 885 exposed pregnancies and 3327 unexposed pregnancies. Relative to unexposed women, exposed women had OR 0.97 (95% CI 0.82, 1.15) for secondary sex ratio, OR 1.13 (95% CI 0.76, 1.67) for preterm birth, OR 1.28 (95% CI 0.81, 2.01) for having a child with major malformations, OR 1.73 (95% CI 1.01, 2.95) for cryptorchidism and OR 1.23 (95% CI 0.88, 1.72) for giving birth to a child born small for gestational age. The difference in birth weight for children of exposed compared to unexposed women was - 32 g (95% CI-79, 14). We observed an increased risk of cryptorchidism among boys after maternal airborne LC-PCB exposure, but due to the proxy measure of exposure, inability to perform dose-response analyses, and the lack of comparable literature, larger cohort studies with direct measures of exposure are needed to investigate the safety of airborne LC-PCB exposure during pregnancy
KW - PCB
KW - Lower chlorinated PCBs
KW - Airborne PCB
KW - Maternal exposure
KW - Birth outcomes
KW - Cryptorchidism
KW - PERSISTENT ORGANIC POLLUTANTS
KW - POLYBROMINATED DIPHENYL ETHERS
KW - PRENATAL EXPOSURE
KW - INDOOR AIR
KW - CAPACITOR WORKERS
KW - FETAL-GROWTH
KW - HALF-LIVES
KW - CONGENERS
KW - WEIGHT
KW - CONTAMINATION
U2 - 10.1007/s10654-021-00793-x
DO - 10.1007/s10654-021-00793-x
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 34420151
VL - 36
SP - 861
EP - 872
JO - European Journal of Epidemiology
JF - European Journal of Epidemiology
SN - 0393-2990
ER -