Concentrations of Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals in Newborn Blood Spots and Early Development, Upstate Kids Study

Abstract

Novel methods for quantifying chemicals in newborn dried bloodspots (NBS) allows researchers to directly measure exposures in children for examining impact on early development at the population level. We quantified three endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in NBS and assessed their associations with developmental screening results in the Upstate KIDS population-based birth cohort. The study included 2,049 singletons and 1,030 twins who were followed through age 3. The equivalent of one 16-mm circle was collected from stored NBS and measured for bisphenol A (BPA), perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) <!--[endif]---->using high-performance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry with limits of detection of 0.30, 0.03 and 0.05 ng/mL, respectively. Parents completed 7 Ages and Stages Questionnaires© between 4 and 36 months of age for each child and results were calculated for failing any of five domains (fine and gross motor, communication, personal-social, problem solving). Using generalized linear mixed modeling techniques with log transformed EDCs, we estimated adjusted odds ratios (aOR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) per standard deviation increase in log-transformed chemical concentrations. A second random intercept was included to account for clustering between twins from the same family. All models were adjusted for maternal age, education, and infertility treatment. The PFOS and PFOA median concentrations were 1.69 ng/ml (IQR: 1.11, 2.40) and 1.08 ng/ml (IQR: 0.67, 1.60), respectively and 7.89 ng/ml (IQR: 3.38, 14.56 ng/ml) for BPA. Among singletons, failing any domain was not associated with PFOS or PFOA (aOR: 0.89; 0.77-1.05 and aOR: 0.93;0.79-1.09 per SD increase in concentrations, respectively) or with BPA (aOR:1.04; 0.89-1.21). Results did not differ for twins. Using direct measures of EDCs in newborn infants, we observed no association with early development through age three.