Prenatal exposure to mixture of bisphenol A and mono(2-ethyl-5-hydroxyhexyl) phthalate increases body mass index of 6 month-age infants

Abstract

TPS 632: Health effects of flame retardants and plasticizers, Johan Friso Foyer, Floor 1, August 27, 2019, 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM Background: Bisphenol A (BPA) and phthalates metabolites have endocrine-disrupting properties that may implicate weight dysregulation even at low doses of exposure. Studies have reported that individual prenatal exposure to BPA and phthalates have been associated with increased body mass index and adiposity while their knowledge gap on effect of co-exposure of BPA and phthalates exists. Thus, in this study we evaluated the exposure of mixture of BPA and phthalates and their influence on physical growth in infants. Methods: Among the participants (N=399) from:the Mothers and Children’s Environmental Health study in South Korea., we evaluated the effect of co-exposure and interaction of first, third trimester of pregnancy and at birth urinary BPA, mono(2-ethyl-5-hydroxyhexyl) phthalate (MEHHP), mono(2-ethyl-5-oxohexyl) phthalate (MEOHP), and mono-n-butyl phthalate (MBP) on z-scores of height, weight and body mass index (BMI) at 6 months using linear regression, generalized additive model and Bayesian kernel machine regression(BKMR). Results: BPA at birth (β=0.08) and BPA in late pregnancy (β= 0.04) was significantly associated with weight at 6 months of age, while BPA at birth was associated with an increase in BMI at 6 months (β=0.15, p<0.05). Significant interaction (p<0.05) was found for BPA and MEHHP at birth affecting weight and BMI at 6 months. BKMR analysis showed significant effect of mixture of BPA and phthalate exposure (>90 percentile) at birth on weight (estimate= 0.25) and BMI (estimate=0.47) at 6 months. Also, BKMR analysis replicated the results for effect of BPA on weight and BMI at 6 months and for the interaction between BPA and MEHHP. Conclusion: Our results identified the effect of prenatal exposure to mixture of BPA, phthalates and their interaction on z-scores of weight and BMI at 6 months. Further studies are needed to explore the interaction of BPA and phthalates. Acknowledgement: This study was supported by Ministry of Environment, Korea.