Anthropometry in 5-to 9-Year-Old Greenlandic and Ukrainian Children in Relation to Prenatal Exposure to Perfluorinated Alkyl Substances

• Published in: Environmental Health Perspectives
• Main Authors: Hoyer, Birgit Bjerre, Ramlau-Hansen, Cecilia Host, Vrijheid, Martine, Valvi, Damaskini, Pedersen, Henning Sloth, Zviezdai, Valentyna, Jönsson, Bo A, Lindh, Christian, Bonde, Jens Peter, Toft, Gunnar
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences 2015
• Subjects: Environmental Health and Occupational Health; Greenland; greenlandic
• Online Access: https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/8077331; https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1408881; https://portal.research.lu.se/files/3797188/8840915

BACKGROUND: In some animal studies, perfluorinated alkyl substances are suggested to induce weight gain. Human epidemiological studies investigating these associations are sparse. OBJECTIVE: We examined pregnancy serum concentrations of perfluorooctanoate (PFOA) and perfluoro-octane sulfonate (PFOS) and the prevalence of offspring overweight (> 1 SD) and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) > 0.5 at 5-9 years of age. Methods: Sera from 1,022 pregnant women enrolled in the INUENDO cohort (2002-2004) from Greenland and Kharkiv (Ukraine) were analyzed for PFOA and PFOS using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Relative risks (RR) of being overweight and having WHtR > 0.5 in relation to continuous and categorized (tertiles) PFOA and PFOS were calculated at follow-up (2010-2012) using generalized linear models. RESULTS: Pooled PFOA median (range) was 1.3 (0.2-5.1) and PFOS median (range) was 10.8 (0.8-73.0) ng/mL. For each natural logarithm-unit (ln-unit) increase of pregnancy PFOA, the adjusted RR of offspring overweight was 1.11 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.82, 1.53] in Greenlandic children. In Ukrainian children, the adjusted RR of offspring overweight was 1.02 (95% CI: 0.72, 1.44) for each ln-unit increase of pregnancy PFOA. Prenatal exposure to PFOS was not associated with overweight in country-specific or pooled analysis. The adjusted RR of having WHtR > 0.5 for each ln-unit increase of prenatal exposure to PFOA was 1.30 (95% CI: 0.97, 1.74) in the pooled analysis. For 1-ln-unit increase of prenatal exposure to PFOS, the adjusted RR of having a WHtR > 0.5 was 1.38 (95% CI: 1.05, 1.82) in the pooled analysis. CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate that prenatal PFOA and PFOS exposures may be associated with child waist-to-height ratio > 0.5. Prenatal PFOA and PFOS exposures were not associated with overweight.