Prenatal Exposure to Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances and Obesity in Early Childhood

Abstract

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are commonly found in firefighting foams, textiles, Teflon, and consumer products, with major sources including fire training sites, industrial sites, and wastewater treatment plants. We assessed the association between maternal serum PFAS concentrations during pregnancy and child obesity between the ages of 2 and 6 years in 165 mother-child pairs from the TESIE Study (2009-2011). We used multivariate logistic regression models to estimate the association between maternal serum PFAS concentrations and child obesity, and directed acyclic graphs to identify confounders. Linear regression models were used to assess the linear relationship between each maternal PFAS concentration and child body mass index. There was not a statistically significant association between maternal serum PFAS concentrations and body mass index. There was a positive trend observed between maternal serum concentrations of perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS), perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA), and perfluorooctane sulfonamide (PFDeA) and the odds of child obesity, and a negative trend for perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (PFHxS). Each log increase in maternal serum PFNA concentration was marginally associated with a 15% increased odds of child obesity (95% confidence interval 0.99, 1.32). These findings suggest that prenatal exposure to PFAS may increase the odds of obesity in children in early childhood, and risk may differ by type of PFAS exposure.