Association of prenatal chlorpyrifos exposure with sexually dimorphic differences in anogenital distance among Thai farmworker children.

Organophosphate (OP) insecticides are some of the most abundantly used insecticides, and prenatal exposures have been linked to adverse maternal and child health outcomes. Anogenital distance (AGD) has emerged as an early marker of androgen activity, and later reproductive outcomes, that is sensitive to alteration by environmental chemicals. Here, we examined associations between prenatal exposure to chlorpyrifos, an OP insecticide, with AGD.

Racism as a public health issue in environmental health disparities and environmental justice: working toward solutions.

Background: Environmental health research in the US has shown that racial and ethnic minorities and members of low-socioeconomic groups, are disproportionately burdened by harmful environmental exposures, in their homes, workplace, and neighborhood environments that impact their overall health and well-being. Systemic racism is a fundamental cause of these disproportionate exposures and associated health effects. To invigorate and inform current efforts on environmental justice and to raise awareness of environmental racism, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) hosted a workshop where community leaders, academic researchers, and NIEHS staff shared perspectives and discussed ways to inform future work to address health disparities.

Broadening the Environmental Lens to Include Social and Structural Determinants of Women's Health Disparities.

Background: Due to the physical, metabolic, and hormonal changes before, during, and after pregnancy, women-defined here as people assigned female at birth-are particularly susceptible to environmental insults. Racism, a driving force of social determinants of health, exacerbates this susceptibility by affecting exposure to both chemical and nonchemical stressors to create women's health disparities.

Objectives: To better understand and address social and structural determinants of women's health disparities, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) hosted a workshop focused on the environmental impacts on women's health disparities and reproductive health in April 2022.

Maternal dietary patterns during pregnancy and exposure to persistent endocrine disrupting chemicals in two European birth cohorts.

Food consumption, particularly of animal-based products, is considered the most important contributor to persistent endocrine disrupting chemical (EDC) exposure. This study aims to describe the association between maternal diet during pregnancy and exposure to persistent EDCs using dietary pattern analysis. This study is based on subsamples of the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) (N=422) and the Norwegian Mother, Father, and Child Cohort Study (MoBa) (N=276) which uses data from the Medical Birth Registry of Norway (MBRN).

Association between early gestation passive smoke exposure and neonatal size among self-reported non-smoking women by race/ethnicity: A cohort study.

Understanding implications of passive smoke exposure during pregnancy is an important public health issue under the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease paradigm. In a prospective cohort of low-risk non-smoking pregnant women (NICHD Fetal Growth Studies-Singletons, 2009-2013, N = 2055), the association between first trimester passive smoke exposure and neonatal size was assessed by race/ethnicity. Plasma biomarker concentrations (cotinine, nicotine) assessed passive smoke exposure.

Prenatal exposure to mixtures of persistent endocrine disrupting chemicals and postnatal body size in British girls.

Background: Endocrine disrupting chemical (EDC) exposure is ubiquitous. EDC exposure during critical windows of development may interfere with the body's endocrine system, affecting growth. Previous human studies have examined one EDC at a time in relation to infant growth.

A multi-pollutant assessment of preconception persistent endocrine disrupting chemicals and incident pregnancy loss.

Background: A few endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) have been associated with pregnancy loss often as reported by women, though there has been no study of EDC mixtures and pregnancy loss in keeping with the nature of human exposure.

Objectives: To investigate preconception exposure to a mixture of EDCs to identify important drivers and inform multi-pollutant models of EDCs in relation to incident human gonadrophin chorionic (hCG) pregnancy loss.

Methods: A cohort of 501 couples were recruited from the general population and prospectively followed until a hCG-confirmed pregnancy or 12 months of trying to become pregnant.

Prenatal Exposure to Mixtures of Persistent Endocrine-disrupting Chemicals and Birth Size in a Population-based Cohort of British Girls.

Background: Previous studies of endocrine-disrupting chemicals have examined one of these chemicals at a time in association with an outcome; studying mixtures better approximates human experience. We investigated the association of prenatal exposure to mixtures of persistent endocrine disruptors (perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances [PFAS], polychlorinated biphenyls [PCBs], and organochlorine pesticides) with birth size among female offspring in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), based in the United Kingdom in 1991-1992.

Methods: We quantified concentrations of 52 endocrine-disrupting chemicals in maternal serum collected during pregnancy at median 15-week gestation.

Association Between Maternal Caffeine Consumption and Metabolism and Neonatal Anthropometry: A Secondary Analysis of the NICHD Fetal Growth Studies-Singletons.

Importance: Higher caffeine consumption during pregnancy has been associated with lower birth weight. However, associations of caffeine consumption, based on both plasma concentrations of caffeine and its metabolites, and self-reported caffeinated beverage intake, with multiple measures of neonatal anthropometry, have yet to be examined.

Objective: To evaluate the association between maternal caffeine intake and neonatal anthropometry, testing effect modification by fast or slow caffeine metabolism genotype.

Prenatal medication use in a prospective pregnancy cohort by pre-pregnancy obesity status.

Background: The association between obesity (body mass index (BMI) ≥ 30 kg/m) and pattern of medication use during pregnancy in the United States is not well-studied. Higher pre-pregnancy BMI may be associated with increases or decreases in medication use across pregnancy as symptoms (e.g.

Prenatal exposure to mixtures of persistent endocrine disrupting chemicals and early menarche in a population-based cohort of British girls.

Exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) is ubiquitous. EDC exposure, especially during critical periods of development like the prenatal window, may interfere with the body's endocrine system, which can affect growth and developmental outcomes such as puberty. Most studies have examined one EDC at a time in relation to disease; however, humans are exposed to many EDCs.

Serum per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS) concentrations and predictors of exposure among pregnant African American women in the Atlanta area, Georgia.

Exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) has been associated with adverse health outcomes, especially when exposure occurs within sensitive time windows such as the pre- and post-natal periods and early childhood. However, few studies have focused on PFAS exposure distribution and predictors in pregnant women, especially among African American women. We quantified serum concentrations of the four most common PFAS collected in all 453 participants and an additional 10 PFAS in 356 participants who were pregnant African American women enrolled from 2014 to 2018 in Atlanta, Georgia, and investigated the sociodemographic predictors of exposure.

Racial/Ethnic Differences in Prenatal Supplement and Medication Use in Low-Risk Pregnant Women.

Objective: This study aimed to describe the overall quantity and type of supplements and medications used during pregnancy in a low-risk cohort and to examine any racial/ethnic differences in intake.

Study Design: We used data from 2,164 racially/ethnically diverse, nonobese, and low-risk pregnant women participating without pre-pregnancy chronic conditions in a prospective cohort study at 12 sites across the United States. Medication data were self-reported as free text in enrollment, follow-up visit questionnaires, and abstracted from medical records at delivery.

Comparison of fetal growth by maternal prenatal acetaminophen use.

Background: Equivocal findings exist regarding prenatal acetaminophen use and various adverse neonatal and childhood health outcomes, though with no data on fetal growth. We evaluated whether fetal growth differed by maternal acetaminophen use.

Methods: Racially diverse, healthy women with low-risk antenatal profiles from 12 US clinical centers were enrolled in a prospective cohort study and followed until delivery.

Persistent organic pollutants and gestational diabetes: A multi-center prospective cohort study of healthy US women.

Background: Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are linked with insulin resistance and type-2 diabetes (T2D) in the general population. However, their associations with gestational diabetes (GDM) are inconsistent.

Objective: We prospectively evaluated the associations of POPs measured in early pregnancy with GDM risk.

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers and incident pregnancy loss: The LIFE Study.

Background: Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) have not been studied in relation to incident pregnancy loss in human populations, despite their ubiquitous exposure and purported reproductive toxicity.

Objectives: To investigate the association between preconception serum PBDE concentrations and incident pregnancy loss.

Methods: A preconception cohort of 501 couples was followed while trying to become pregnant, and for whom serum concentrations of 10 PBDE congeners were measured using gas chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry.

Concentrations of endocrine disrupting chemicals in newborn blood spots and infant outcomes in the upstate KIDS study.

Background: Novel methodologies to quantify infant exposures to endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) for population-based studies are needed.

Objectives: We used newborn dried blood spots to quantify three EDCs and their associations with infant outcomes in the Upstate KIDS Cohort.

Methods: We measured bisphenol A (BPA), perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) in 2071 singleton and 1040 twin infants born to mothers in New York State.

Endocrine disruptors and neonatal anthropometry, NICHD Fetal Growth Studies - Singletons.

Background: Intrauterine exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) has been equivocally associated with birth weight, length and head circumference with limited attention to anthropometric endpoints such as umbilical circumference and limb lengths.

Objective: To explore 76 prenatal maternal plasma EDC concentrations in a healthy obstetric cohort and 7 neonatal anthropometric endpoints by maternal race/ethnicity.

Methods: The study cohort comprised 2106 (564 White, 549 Black, 590 Hispanic, 403 Asian) healthy pregnant women recruited from 12 U.

Preconception seminal plasma concentrations of endocrine disrupting chemicals in relation to semen quality parameters among male partners planning for pregnancy.

Background: Some non-persistent endocrine disruptors (EDCs) are adversely associated with semen quality and few studies have measured those EDCs in seminal plasma.

Objective: To find an association between EDCs in seminal plasma and semen quality parameters.

Methods: Five chemical classes of non-persistent EDCs were quantified in seminal plasma from 339 male partners who participated in a prospective pregnancy study.

Male urinary biomarkers of antimicrobial exposure and bi-directional associations with semen quality parameters.

Antimicrobials including parabens, triclosan, and triclocarban have endocrine disrupting properties. Among 501 male partners of couples planning to become pregnant, preconception urinary biomarkers of parabens, triclosan and triclocarban exposure were quantified in spot urine samples. Men also provided two fresh semen samples collected approximately one month to undergo 24-h semen quality analysis.