Prenatal exposure to perfluoroalkyl substances and cardiometabolic risk in children from the spanish INMA birth cohort study

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) may affect body mass index (BMI) and other components of cardiometabolic (CM) risk during childhood, but evidence is scarce and inconsistent. OBJECTIVES: We estimated associations between prenatal PFAS exposures and outcomes relevant to cardiometabolic risk, including a composite CM-risk score. METHODS: We measured perfluorohexanesulfonic acid (PFHxS), perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS), perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), and perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA) in maternal plasma (first trimester). We assessed weight gain from birth until 6 mo. At 4 and 7 y, we calculated the age- and sex-specific z-scores for BMI, waist circumference (WC), and blood pressure (BP) (n≈1,000). At age 4, we calculated the age-, sex-, and region-specific z-scores for cholesterol, triglycerides (TGs), high-density (HDL-C), and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) (n=627). At age 4, we calculated a CM-risk score (n=386) as the sum of the individual age-, sex-, and region-specific z-scores for WC, BP, HDL-C, and TGs. We used the average between the negative of HDL-C z-score and TGs z-score to give similar weight to lipids and the other components in the score. A higher score indicates a higher cardiometabolic risk at age 4. RESULTS: PFOS and PFOA were the most abundant PFAS (geometric mean: 5.80 and 2.32 ng/mL, respectively). In general, prenatal PFAS concentrations were not associated with individual outcomes or the combined CM-risk score. Exceptions were positive associations between prenatal PFHxS and TGs z-score [for a doubling of exposure, β=0.11; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.01, 0.21], and between PFNA and the CM-risk score (β=0.60; 95% CI: 0.04, 1.16). There was not clear or consistent evidence of modification by sex. CONCLUSIONS: We observed little or no evidence of associations between low prenatal PFAS exposures and outcomes related to cardiometabolic risk in a cohort of Spanish children followed from birth until 7 y. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP1330 ; This study was funded by grants from the European Union (FP7-ENV-2011 cod 282957 and HEALTH.2010.2.4.5-1), and from Spain: Instituto de Salud Carlos III and Ministry of Health (Red INMA G03/176; CB06/02/0041; PI041436, PI081151, PI06/0867, PS09/00090, PI13/02187; FIS-FEDER: PI03/1615, PI04/1509, PI04/1112, PI04/1931, PI05/1079, PI05/1052, PI06/1213, PI07/0314, PI09/02647, PI11/01007, PI11/02591, PI11/02038, PI12/01890, PI13/1944, PI13/2032, PI14/00891, and PI14/1687; predoctoral grant PFIS - FI14/00099; and Miguel Servet-FEDER: CP11/0178 and CPII16/00051), CIBERESP; the Conselleria de Sanitat, Generalitat Valenciana; Department of Health of the Basque Government (2005111093 and 2009111069); the Provincial Government of Gipuzkoa (DFG06/004 and DFG08/001); and the Generalitat de Catalunya-CIRIT (1999SGR 00241); and from the United Stated of America: National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) (grant number ES021477). ISGlobal is a member of the Centres de Recerca de Catalunya (CERCA) Programme, Generalitat de Catalunya. This study has been reviewed and approved by the accredited committees of the following institutions: the Municipal Institute of Sanitary Assistance of Barcelona, La Fe University Hospital of Valencia, and Donostia Hospital de Zumarraga.