Prenatal PCB Exposure and Birth Weight in Eastern Slovakia

Abstract

P-460 Introduction: Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were widely used as dielectric fluids in electrical transformers and capacitors, and as heat exchangers or hydraulic fluids. Due to their toxicity, their production and use was banned in most western industrialized countries in the late 1970s. In eastern Slovakia, a chemical manufacturing plant produced PCBs from 1959 until the mid-1980’s. Because of improper disposal, a significant amount of pollution was released into the environment in the surrounding area. Prenatal PCB exposure was associated with lower birth weight in some previous studies although other authors reported no association. Methods: During 2002 to 2004 we enrolled a birth cohort of mothers from the general population in two districts of Slovakia at the time delivery. Biological specimens were collected and a questionnaire was administered after the woman gave birth. Concentrations of 17 PCB congeners and several other persistent organics were measured in maternal serum using high-resolution gas chromatography with electron capture detection (n=1079). This study examined the effects of prenatal PCB exposure on birth weight in 951 neonates. We used multiple linear regression and adjusted for gestational age, maternal age, education and smoking history, inter-pregnancy interval, ethnicity, BMI, height, and DDE exposure. Results: The median PCB concentration in the maternal serum was 4.3 ng/ml (mean 6.3 ± 8.6 ng/ml) in the cohort; after adjustment for serum lipid content, median PCB level was 0.4 ng/g lipid (mean 0.6 ± 0.8). The main association between prenatal PCB exposure and birth weight was not statistically significant. However, differences in birth weight between neonates of Romani vs. European ethnicity were sizable, especially in boys, and magnified at higher PCB exposures. For example, boys born to Romani mothers at the 90th percentile of PCB exposure were 325 grams smaller than the non-Romani boys at the 90th percentile of PCB exposure (p < .0001) and 201 grams smaller (p < .0004) at the 10th percentile. Discussion & Conclusions: Despite the fact that PCB production in eastern Slovakia was stopped in late 1980s, PCB exposure of local residents remains quite high relative to other populations. Our results seem to imply that higher levels of PCB may have an adverse gender specific effect on intrauterine growth among socially disadvantaged births in this population.