Abstract
Adverse birth outcomes are a leading cause of mortality in children in China, but the environmental influences of these conditions remain largely unexplained in this population. We aimed to evaluate the levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in Chinese pregnant women and their newborns, and to examine the association between levels of PAHs and infant birth weight. We conducted a cross-sectional study including 81 pairs of mothers and newborns from four hospitals in four different cities in China. High Performance Liquid Chromatography was used to measure the concentration of nine PAHs in maternal and cord blood and multiple linear regression analyses were used to evaluate the associations of these PAHs with infant birth weight. Anthracene (ANT) had the highest average concentration and detection rate (geometric mean = 69.54 ng/g and 76.5%, respectively) in maternal serum samples, while fluoranthene (FLT) had the highest concentration and detection rate (geometric mean = 68.4 ng/g and 50.6%, respectively) in the cord blood. Most of the measured PAHs in maternal serum and three PAHs in cord blood were inversely but non-significantly associated with birth weight. The strongest associations were observed for higher concentrations of benzo (a) pyrene (BaP) in maternal serum (230.7 g decrease for levels > median vs.
Highlights
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a large class of chemical compounds and are ubiquitous air pollutants generated from combustion sources [1]
Given the limited number of studies that have evaluated this association in China, and the significant contribution that adverse birth outcome has on mortality in Chinese children, we evaluated the distributions of PAHs in the maternal and cord blood serum and examined the influence of these exposures on infant birth weight in a study of 81 mother and infant pairs from four cities in China
ANT, benzo (k) fluoranthene (BkF), DhA, and FLT were detected in more than 40% of the samples, with the highest detection rate observed for ANT (76.5%) followed by BkF (60.7%), DhA (48.2%), and FLT (46.9%)
Summary
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a large class of chemical compounds and are ubiquitous air pollutants generated from combustion sources [1]. The air concentrations of PAHs reported in monitoring studies are reported to be higher in China compared to other developed countries [4], due in large part to rapid industrialization resulting in increased exposure to car exhaust emissions, coke production, and natural gas combustion [5]. Air monitoring studies have indicated geographic differences in PAH concentrations within various regions in China, with some studies reporting higher PAH levels in northern compared to southern regions of the country [4]. There is limited data on serum levels of PAHs in the Chinese population, which would provide important insight into the internal dose of PAHs in this population and would take into account different routes of PAH exposure
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