Association of exposure to PM2.5-bound metals with maternal thyroid function in early pregnancy

Liping Qiu; Weiying Shen; Chunmei Ye; Junqi Wu; Shufa Zheng; Bin Lou; Zhijian Chen; Peiwei Xu; Dandan Xu; Xiaofeng Wang; Baihuan Feng

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.151167

Association of exposure to PM_2.5-bound metals with maternal thyroid function in early pregnancy

Sci Total Environ. 2022 Mar 1:810:151167. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.151167. Epub 2021 Oct 23.

Authors

Liping Qiu¹, Weiying Shen², Chunmei Ye³, Junqi Wu⁴, Shufa Zheng⁵, Bin Lou⁵, Zhijian Chen⁶, Peiwei Xu⁶, Dandan Xu⁶, Xiaofeng Wang⁷, Baihuan Feng⁸

Affiliations

¹ Department of Preventive Health Care, Affiliated Jinhua Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Jinhua 321000, China.
² Department of Hospital Infection Management, Jinhua Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital, Jinhua 321000, China.
³ Disease Prevention and Control Center of Linping District, Hangzhou 311100, China.
⁴ Department of Laboratory Medicine, Affiliated Jinhua Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Jinhua 321000, China.
⁵ Department of Laboratory Medicine, the First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou 310003, China; Key Laboratory of Clinical in Vitro Diagnostic Techniques of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou 310003, China; Institute of Laboratory Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310003, China.
⁶ Department of Environmental Health, Zhejiang Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Hangzhou 310051, China.
⁷ Department of Environmental Health, Zhejiang Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Hangzhou 310051, China. Electronic address: xfwang@cdc.zj.cn.
⁸ Department of Laboratory Medicine, the First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou 310003, China; Key Laboratory of Clinical in Vitro Diagnostic Techniques of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou 310003, China; Institute of Laboratory Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310003, China. Electronic address: fengbaihuan@zju.edu.cn.

PMID: 34699824
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.151167

Abstract

Epidemiological evidence linking metals bound to ambient particulate matters with aerodynamic diameter less than 2.5 μm (PM_2.5) and maternal thyroid function is limited. In this study, we investigated the association of PM_2.5-bound metals with maternal thyroid hormones (TH) during the first trimester. We retrospectively reviewed data for 2528 pregnant women attending prenatal care in Jinhua Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital, Jinhua, China, from January to December 2018. Information including thyroid hormone levels and demographics was retrieved from existing medical records. We analyzed the concentration of 10 metals for collected particulate samples, and estimated their exposure levels during the first trimester for each woman. We employed multivariate linear regression models to estimate the association of exposure to individual PM_2.5-bound metals with serum levels of maternal TH, and weighted quantile sum (WQS) to estimate the overall association of exposure to PM_2.5-bound metals within a mixture. Higher exposures to most of the PM_2.5-bound metals were associated with lower levels of maternal free thyroxine (FT4) and free triiodothyronine (FT3). The thyroid peroxidase antibody (TPOAb) or thyroglobulin antibody (TgAb) status had no effect modification on the observed associations. WQS analyses further suggested that Be, Ni, Tl and Ba contributed the most to the associations. These findings highlight the associations of exposure to PM_2.5-bound metals with maternal thyroid function, and emphasize the public health significance of commitments to improve air quality.

Keywords: Air pollution; Metals; Pregnancy; Thyroid function; Weighted quantile sum.

MeSH terms

Air Pollution*
Child
Female
Humans
Maternal Exposure
Particulate Matter
Pregnancy
Retrospective Studies
Thyroid Gland*

Substances

Particulate Matter