Background: Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a class of widespread persistent chemicals, which may have obesogenic effects during the fetal period. This study investigated the long-term association of maternal plasma PFAS concentrations at delivery and their mixture with child body mass index (BMI) and the risk of Overweight or Obesity (OWO) at the age of 2-18 years.
Methods: The study included 1189 mother-child dyads from the prospective Boston Birth Cohort.
Background: Under controlled conditions and in some observational studies of runners, airborne fine particulate matter smaller than 2.5 microns in diameter (PM) is associated with exercise performance decrements.
Objective: To assess the association between event-day fine particulate matter air pollution (PM) and marathon finish times.
Background: Cardiometabolic risk factors among youth are rising. Epigenetic age acceleration, a biomarker for aging and disease-risk, has been associated with adiposity in children, but its association with other cardiometabolic risk markers remains understudied. We employed data from the Health Outcomes and Measures of the Environment (HOME) study, a prospective pregnancy and birth cohort in the greater Cincinnati metropolitan area, to examine whether accelerated epigenetic age at birth as well as accelerated epigenetic age and faster pace of biological aging at age 12 years were associated with higher cardiometabolic risk in adolescents.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), persistent environmental chemicals, may act as obesogens by interacting with neuroendocrine pathways regulating energy homeostasis and satiety signals influencing adolescent eating behaviors.
Methods: In 211 HOME Study adolescents (Cincinnati, OH; recruited 2003-2006), we measured PFAS concentrations in serum collected during pregnancy, at delivery, and at ages 3, 8, and 12 years. Caregivers completed the Child Eating Behavior Questionnaire (CEBQ) at age 12, and we calculated food approach and food avoidance scores.
Environ Res
December 2024
Background: Environmental chemical exposures in utero may play a role in autism development. While preconception risk factors for autism are increasingly being investigated, little is known about the influence of chemical exposures during the preconception period, particularly for paternal exposures.
Methods: In 195 children from the Preconception Environmental exposures And Childhood health Effects (PEACE) cohort born to parents recruited from a fertility clinic in Boston, Massachusetts between 2004 and 2017, we quantified concentrations of 11 phthalate metabolites and bisphenol A (BPA) in urine samples collected from mothers and fathers before conception and mothers throughout pregnancy.
Background: Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are ubiquitous chemicals routinely detected in personal care products (PCPs). However, few studies have evaluated the impact of PCP use on PFAS concentrations in pregnant and lactating populations.
Objective: We investigated associations between PCP use and PFAS concentrations in prenatal plasma and human milk.
Background/objective: Pacific children are at high obesity risk, yet the behavioral and environmental factors that contribute to obesity development in this setting remain poorly understood. We assessed associations between childhood risk factors for obesity with body mass index (BMI) trajectories between ages 2-9 years in Samoa.
Subjects/methods: In a prospective cohort of 485 children from 'Upolu, we measured weight and height at ages 2-4 (2015), 3.
Background: Evidence from toxicological studies indicate organophosphate esters (OPEs) are neurotoxic, but few epidemiological studies investigated associations between gestational OPEs and executive function.
Objective: To examine the associations between gestational concentrations of OPE urinary metabolites and executive function at 12 years.
Methods: We used data from 223 mother-adolescent dyads from the Health Outcomes of Measures of the Environment (HOME) Study.
Background And Objectives: Diet plays critical roles in modulating maternal metabolic health in pregnancy, but is also a source of metabolic-disrupting phthalates and their replacements. We aimed to evaluate whether the effects of better diet quality on favorable maternal metabolic outcomes could be partially explained by lower exposure to phthalates/replacements.
Methods: At 13 weeks gestation, 295 Illinois women (enrolled 2015-2018) completed a three-month food frequency questionnaire that we used to calculate the Alternative Healthy Eating Index (AHEI)-2010 to assess diet quality.
Background: Folic acid (FA) supplementation may attenuate the associations between gestational exposure to certain chemicals and autism or autistic-like behaviors, but to our knowledge, this has not been assessed for lead.
Objectives: We examined whether the relationship between gestational blood-lead levels (BLLs) and autistic-like behaviors was modified by gestational plasma total folate concentrations, FA supplementation, and maternal methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase () 677C>T genotype.
Methods: We used data from the Maternal-Infant Research on Environmental Chemicals study (2008-2011), a Canadian pregnancy and birth cohort study.
Few studies have considered household interventions for reducing endocrine disrupting chemical (EDC) exposures. We conducted a secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial, originally designed to reduce lead exposure, to evaluate if the intervention lowered EDC exposures in young children. Study participants were children from the Cincinnati, Ohio area (n = 250, HOME Study).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Gestational exposure to toxic environmental chemicals and maternal social hardships are individually associated with impaired fetal growth, but it is unclear whether the effects of environmental chemical exposure on infant birth weight are modified by maternal hardships.
Methods: We used data from the Maternal-Infant Research on Environmental Chemicals (MIREC) Study, a pan-Canadian cohort of 1982 pregnant females enrolled between 2008 and 2011. We quantified eleven environmental chemical concentrations from two chemical classes - six organochlorine compounds (OCs) and five metals - that were detected in ≥ 70% of blood samples collected during the first trimester.
Background: Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are ubiquitous environmental chemicals used as flame retardants in commercial and consumer products. Gestational PBDE concentrations are associated with adverse behaviors in children; however, the persistence of these associations into adolescence remains understudied.
Objective: We estimated the association of gestational PBDE serum concentrations with early adolescent self- and caregiver-reported behaviors at age 12 years and determined the consistency with previously observed associations in childhood with caregiver-reported behaviors in a prospective pregnancy and birth cohort.
Background/aims: Pregnant women are exposed to persistent environmental contaminants, including per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) that disrupt thyroid function. However, it is unclear if PFAS alter maternal sex-steroid hormone levels, which support pregnancy health and fetal development.
Methods: In Illinois women with relatively high socioeconomic status (n = 460), we quantified perfluorononanoic (PFNA), perfluorooctane sulfonic (PFOS), perfluorooctanoic (PFOA), methyl-perfluorooctane sulfonamide acetic acid, perfluorohexanesulphonic (PFHxS), perfluorodecanoic (PFDeA), and perfluoroundecanoic (PFUdA) acid concentrations in fasting serum samples at median 17 weeks gestation, along with plasma progesterone, testosterone, and estradiol.
Background: Triclosan is an endocrine-disrupting chemical, but associations with pubertal outcomes remain unclear. We examined associations of gestational and childhood triclosan with adolescent hormone concentrations and pubertal stage.
Methods: We quantified urinary triclosan concentrations twice during pregnancy and seven times between birth and 12 years in participants recruited from Cincinnati, OH (2003-2006).
Background: Prenatal or early childhood secondhand tobacco smoke (SHS) exposure increases obesity risk. However, the potential mechanisms underlying this association are unclear, but obesogenic eating behaviors are one pathway that components of SHS could perturb. Our aim was to assess associations of prenatal and early childhood SHS exposure with adolescent eating behaviors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS) exposures may negatively impact bone mineral accrual, but little is known about potential mitigators of this relation. We assessed whether associations of PFAS and their mixture with bone mineral content (BMC) in adolescence were modified by diet and physical activity.
Methods: We included 197 adolescents enrolled in a prospective pregnancy and birth cohort in Cincinnati, Ohio (2003-2006).
Thyroid hormones are essential for neurodevelopment. Few studies have considered associations with quantitatively measured autism spectrum disorder (ASD)-related traits, which may help elucidate associations for a broader population. Participants were drawn from two prospective pregnancy cohorts: the Early Autism Risk Longitudinal Investigation (EARLI), enrolling pregnant women who already had a child with ASD, and the Health Outcomes and Measures of the Environment (HOME) Study, following pregnant women from the greater Cincinnati, OH area.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To determine if firearm ownership is positively related to elevated child lead levels at a state-level, even when accounting for other sources of lead.
Study Design: For this cross-sectional ecological study, we investigated whether household firearm ownership rates (a proxy for firearm-related lead exposure) was associated with the prevalence of elevated child blood lead levels in 44 US States between 2012 and 2018. To account for potential confounding, we adjusted for other known lead exposures, poverty rate, population density, race, and calendar year.
Few methods have been used to characterize repeatedly measured biomarkers of chemical mixtures. We applied latent profile analysis (LPA) to serum concentrations of 4 perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) measured at 4 time points from gestation to age 12 years. We evaluated the relationships between profiles and z scores of height, body mass index, fat mass index, and lean body mass index at age 12 years (n = 218).
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