Prenatal Exposure of Perfluorinated Compounds in Relation to Birth Weight

Abstract

Background : Perfluorooctanesulfonate(PFOS) and Perfluorooctanoate(PFOA) are widespread persistent organic pollutants in the environment as well as in humans. In humans, the PFOS concentrations of cord blood have been associated with adverse birth outcomes. Therefore, we investigated the PFOS and PFOA concentrations in the cord serum to determine their effect on birth weight. Methods : The study participants comprises of 300 pregnant women of the total participants recruited from Ewha Birth & Growth cohort study between 2006 and 2010 retrospectively. Birth weight was obtained from medical records. We analyzed cord serum samples for PFOS and PFOA by high-performance liquid chromatograph coupled with a Triple Quad LC-MS/MS system. We performed tests to assess the effect of PFCs on birth weight by multiple linear regression model for statistical analysis. Results : The median PFOS and PFOA concentrations in cord serum were 0.39(range 0.25 to 0.68) and 0.26 (range 0.18 to 0.38) ng/mL, respectively. Only PFOS concentrations was significantly decreased on birth weight (adjusted ß=-163.95, P=0.04). Additionally, PFOS concentrations were approaching significant associations with gestational age (adjusted ß=0.02, P=0.06). Conclusions: This study found that an association between prenatal exposure to PFCs with and birth weight. Further studies more fully elaborate the relationship between prenatal PFCs exposure and birth outcome. Acknowledgment :This study was supported by National Research Foundation of Korea Grant funded by the Korean Government.