Environmental Risk and Health, Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), Mol, Belgium.
Environ Health Perspect. 2012 Feb;120(2):162-70. doi: 10.1289/ehp.1103767. Epub 2011 Oct 13.
Exposure to high concentrations of persistent organochlorines may cause fetal toxicity, but the evidence at low exposure levels is limited. Large studies with substantial exposure contrasts and appropriate exposure assessment are warranted. Within the framework of the EU (European Union) ENRIECO (ENvironmental Health RIsks in European Birth Cohorts) and EU OBELIX (OBesogenic Endocrine disrupting chemicals: LInking prenatal eXposure to the development of obesity later in life) projects, we examined the hypothesis that the combination of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (DDE) adversely affects birth weight.
We used maternal and cord blood and breast milk samples of 7,990 women enrolled in 15 study populations from 12 European birth cohorts from 1990 through 2008. Using identical variable definitions, we performed for each cohort linear regression of birth weight on estimates of cord serum concentration of PCB-153 and p,p´-DDE adjusted for gestational age and a priori selected covariates. We obtained summary estimates by meta-analysis and performed analyses of interactions.
The median concentration of cord serum PCB-153 was 140 ng/L (range of cohort medians 20-484 ng/L) and that of p,p´-DDE was 528 ng/L (range of cohort medians 50-1,208 ng/L). Birth weight decreased with increasing cord serum concentration of PCB-153 after adjustment for potential confounders in 12 of 15 study populations. The meta-analysis including all cohorts indicated a birth weight decline of 150 g [95% confidence interval (CI): -250, -50 g] per 1-µg/L increase in PCB-153, an exposure contrast that is close to the range of exposures across the cohorts. A 1-µg/L increase in p,p´-DDE was associated with a 7-g decrease in birth weight (95% CI: -18, 4 g).
The findings suggest that low-level exposure to PCB (or correlated exposures) impairs fetal growth, but that exposure to p,p´-DDE does not. The study adds to mounting evidence that low-level exposure to PCBs is inversely associated with fetal growth.
暴露于高浓度的持久性有机氯污染物可能会导致胎儿毒性，但低暴露水平下的证据有限。需要进行有大量暴露对比和适当暴露评估的大型研究。在欧盟（EU）ENRIECO（欧洲出生队列中的环境健康风险）和欧盟 OBELIX（肥胖性内分泌干扰物：将产前暴露与生命后期肥胖联系起来）项目的框架内，我们检验了这样一个假设，即多氯联苯（PCBs）和二氯二苯二氯乙烯（DDE）的组合会对出生体重产生不利影响。
我们使用了来自 1990 年至 2008 年 12 个欧洲出生队列的 15 个研究人群中 7990 名妇女的母亲和脐带血以及母乳样本。对于每个队列，我们使用相同的变量定义，根据脐带血清中 PCB-153 和 p,p´-DDE 的浓度，对胎龄和事先选择的协变量进行线性回归，以评估出生体重。我们通过荟萃分析获得了汇总估计值，并进行了交互作用分析。
脐带血清中 PCB-153 的中位数浓度为 140ng/L（队列中位数范围为 20-484ng/L），p,p´-DDE 的中位数浓度为 528ng/L（队列中位数范围为 50-1208ng/L）。在调整了 15 个研究人群中的潜在混杂因素后，12 个研究人群中的脐带血清 PCB-153 浓度与出生体重呈负相关。包括所有队列的荟萃分析表明，PCB-153 每增加 1μg/L，出生体重下降 150g[95%置信区间（CI）：-250，-50g]，这种暴露对比接近队列之间的暴露范围。p,p´-DDE 增加 1μg/L，出生体重下降 7g（95%CI：-18，4g）。
研究结果表明，低水平的 PCB（或相关暴露）会损害胎儿生长，但 p,p´-DDE 不会。该研究增加了越来越多的证据，表明低水平的 PCB 暴露与胎儿生长呈负相关。
