Association of prenatal exposure to polybrominated diphenyl ethers at low levels with adiposity measures in children up to 6 years

Yafei Chen; Ziliang Wang; Guanghong Fang; Maohua Miao; Hong Liang; Yao Chen; Min Luan; Xiaofang Liu; Sheng Wen; Aimin Chen; Wei Yuan

doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.134867

Association of prenatal exposure to polybrominated diphenyl ethers at low levels with adiposity measures in children up to 6 years

Chemosphere. 2022 Sep;303(Pt 1):134867. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.134867. Epub 2022 May 17.

Authors

Yafei Chen¹, Ziliang Wang¹, Guanghong Fang¹, Maohua Miao¹, Hong Liang¹, Yao Chen¹, Min Luan¹, Xiaofang Liu², Sheng Wen², Aimin Chen³, Wei Yuan⁴

Affiliations

¹ NHC Key Lab. of Reproduction Regulation, Shanghai Institute for Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Technologies, China.
² Hubei Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Toxicology, National Reference Laboratory of Dioxin, Hubei Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Wuhan, China.
³ Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Informatics, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, United States.
⁴ NHC Key Lab. of Reproduction Regulation, Shanghai Institute for Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Technologies, China. Electronic address: yuanwei@sibpt.com.

PMID: 35595104
DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.134867

Abstract

The effects of prenatal PBDEs exposure, especially at low levels, on childhood obesity are scarce. No previous studies have investigated the effect modification by breastfeeding on the associations of PBDEs exposure with childhood obesity. We aimed to investigate the associations of prenatal PBDEs exposure with adiposity measures in children up to 6 years, and the effect modification by breastfeeding. Participants were mother-child pairs from the Shanghai-Minhang Birth Cohort study. Nine PBDE congeners were assessed in cord blood plasma. We obtained information about child weight (0-6 years), height (0.5-6 years), arm circumference (0-6 years), and waist circumference (0-6 years) at each follow-up visit. Breastfeeding duration was collected when children were aged 1 year and was categorized as short (≤6 months) and adequate (>6 months). Multiple linear regression models were used to examine the associations of PBDE concentrations with adiposity measures of the children at each age. Generalized estimating equation (GEE) models were used to estimate the overall associations of PBDEs exposure with adiposity measures. We examined the effect modification by breastfeeding using stratified analyses and by including interaction terms into GEE models. For boys, there was a general profile of positive associations of several PBDE congeners exposure with adiposity measures. Especially, boys with higher BDE-153 concentration had higher adiposity measures at each time point. For girls, we also found positive associations of BDE-100 and -153 exposure with adiposity measures. The GEE models showed consistent patterns for BDE-153 in boys and for BDE-100 and -153 in girls. In breastfeeding-stratified analyses, stronger associations of PBDEs exposure with adiposity measures were generally found in children who were shortly breastfed. Our findings suggest that prenatal exposure to PBDEs at low levels may influence childhood adiposity measures, and the potential effects of PBDEs were attenuated by adequate breastfeeding.

Keywords: Adiposity measures; Breastfeeding; Children development; Long-term effects; PBDEs; Prenatal exposure.

MeSH terms

Adiposity
Child
China
Cohort Studies
Female
Halogenated Diphenyl Ethers / toxicity
Humans
Male
Maternal Exposure
Pediatric Obesity*
Pregnancy
Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects*

Substances

Halogenated Diphenyl Ethers