Background: African Americans (AAs) experience higher rates of preterm birth and fetal growth restriction relative to other pregnant populations. Differential in utero exposure to environmental chemicals may partially explain these health disparities, as AAs are disproportionately exposed to environmental hazards.
Objective: We examined the individual and mixture effects of non-persistent chemicals and persistent organic pollutants (POPs) on gestational age at birth and birthweight for gestational age z-scores within a prospective cohort of pregnant AAs.
Methods: First-trimester serum and urine samples obtained from participants within the Atlanta African American Maternal-Child cohort were analyzed for 43 environmental chemicals, including per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), organochlorine pesticides, pyrethroid insecticides, phthalates, bisphenol A, nicotine, and the primary metabolite of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol. Linear regression was used to estimate individual associations between chemicals and gestational age and birthweight z-scores (N ranging from 107 to 523). Mixture associations were estimated using quantile g-computation, principal component (PC) analyses, and hierarchical Bayesian kernel machine regression among complete cases (N = 86).
Results: Using quantile g-computation, increasing all chemical exposures by one quantile was modestly associated with a reduction in gestational age (mean change per quartile increase = -0.47, 95% CI = -1.56, 0.61) and birthweight z-scores (mean change per quartile increase = -0.49, 95% CI = -1.14, 0.15). All PCs were associated with a reduction in birthweight z-scores; associations were greatest in magnitude for the two PCs reflecting exposure to combined tobacco, insecticides, PBDEs, and phthalates. In single pollutant models, we observed inconsistent and largely non-significant associations.
Signifance: We conducted multiple targeted exposure assessment methods to quantify levels of environmental chemicals and leveraged mixture methods to quantify their joint effects on gestational age and birthweight z-scores. Our findings suggest that prenatal exposure to multiple classes of persistent and non-persistent chemicals is associated with reduced gestational age and birthweight z-scores in AAs.
Impact: African Americans (AAs) experience higher rates of preterm birth and fetal growth restriction relative to other pregnant populations. Differential in utero exposure to environmental chemicals may partially explain these health disparities, as AAs are disproportionately exposed to environmental hazards. In the present study, we analyzed serum and urine samples for levels of 43 environmental chemicals. We used quantile g-computation, principal component analysis, and BKMR to assess associations between chemical exposure mixtures and adverse birth outcomes. Our findings suggest that prenatal exposure to multiple classes of chemicals is associated with reduced birthweight z-scores, a proxy for fetal growth, in AAs.
Keywords: Disparities; Exposure assessment; Mixtures; Pregnancy.
© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature America, Inc.