Early life exposome and lung function in children from the HELIX cohort

Abstract

Background: The Exposome approach allows a holistic view of environmental exposures effects on human health by evaluating multiple exposures simultaneously. Objectives: To evaluate prenatal and postnatal exposures association with lung function in childhood in the large European Human Early-Life Exposome (HELIX) cohort. Methods: We relied on a cohort of 1,301 mother-child pairs for whom the internal (urinary and blood biomarkers and lifestyle characteristics) and external (built environment, air pollution, meteorological factors…) exposome were assessed, totaling 442 exposures (174 prenatal and 268 postnatal). An agnostic environment-wide association study (EWAS) was applied for forced expiratory volume in 1 second in % predicted (FEV1 %), using linear regression models adjusted for confounders for each exposure. Results: The mean age of the children was 8.1 years. FEV1% was available for 1,033 (79.4%) children (mean(sd) = 98.8(13.2)). Without correcting for multiple testing in EWAS, FEV1 was statistically significantly decreased with 1) higher prenatal exposure to perfluorononanoate and perfluorooctanoate; 2) lower prenatal exposure to NO2 (trimester 3) and inverse distance to nearest road; 3) higher postnatal exposure to copper, ethyl-paraben, phthalates (sum of DEHP, MECCP, MEHHP, MEOHP, OXOMINP), house crowding and number of bus public transport mode stops around school, and 4) lower family affluence score. When correcting EWAS results for multiple testing or using variable selection models (DSA), no exposure was selected. Conclusion: This first exposome study on lung function in children confirmed some previously reported associations (e.g. phthalates, PFASs). Funding: Helix (EU H2020 Grant 308333)