Luo Dan, Pu Yabing, Tian Haoyuan, Wu Weixiang, Sun Xin, Zhou Tingting, Tao Yun, Yuan Jing, Shen Xiaoli, Feng Yaqian, Mei Surong
Key Laboratory of Environment and Health, Ministry of Education & Ministry of Environmental Protection, and State Key Laboratory of Environment Health (Incubation), School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, #13 Hangkong Road, Wuhan, Hubei, 430030, China.
Dongcheng District Community Health Service Management Center, Beijing 100010, China.
Environ Pollut. 2017 Dec;231(Pt 1):78-86. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2017.07.091. Epub 2017 Aug 5.
Organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) had been widely used in agriculture and disease prevention from the 1940s-1960s. Currently, OCPs are raising global concerns due to their associated prevalent contamination and adverse health effects, such as endocrine disruption. Several epidemiological studies have explored the underlying association of OCPs on thyroid hormone (TH) status in adults and newborns, but the results of studies performed on newborns are often inconclusive. This exploratory study was conducted with the purpose of assessing the potential association of the prenatal exposure to OCPs with the concentrations of TH in the cord blood of newborns from China. Cord blood and information on demographic characteristics were collected from 115 newborns between November 2013 and June 2014. The exposure levels of 17 OCPs were measured with a gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, and TH levels including free triiodothyronine (FT3), free thyroxine (FT4), and thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) were detected using electrochemiluminescence immunoassay methods. After adjusting for confounding factors (the age of pregnant mothers, education level, monthly household income, parity, and sex of the newborns), we found marginally significant inverse associations of cord plasma measurements of ∑hexachlorcyclohexanes (∑HCHs), 1,1-dichloro-2,2-di(4-chlorophenyl)ethylene (ρ,ρ'-DDE) and methoxychlor with FT4 levels, but not with FT3 and TSH levels. Moreover, higher cord plasma levels of aldrin, dieldrin, ∑dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethanes (∑DDTs), ∑Drins, and ∑OCPs were found to be related to the increase in cord plasma TSH levels after the adjustment for confounders. The results of this exploratory study indicate that in utero exposure to certain OCPs may affect TH status in newborns, and therefore, pose potential effects on early human development. Further research, with larger sample sizes, should be conducted to confirm these findings.
有机氯农药（OCPs）在20世纪40年代至60年代被广泛应用于农业和疾病预防领域。目前，由于其普遍存在的污染问题以及对健康的不利影响，如内分泌干扰，OCPs引起了全球关注。多项流行病学研究探讨了OCPs与成人及新生儿甲状腺激素（TH）状态之间的潜在关联，但针对新生儿的研究结果往往尚无定论。本探索性研究旨在评估中国新生儿产前接触OCPs与脐带血中TH浓度之间的潜在关联。于2013年11月至2014年6月期间收集了115名新生儿的脐带血及人口统计学特征信息。采用气相色谱/质谱法测定17种OCPs的暴露水平，用电化学发光免疫分析法检测TH水平，包括游离三碘甲状腺原氨酸（FT3）、游离甲状腺素（FT4）和促甲状腺激素（TSH）。在对混杂因素（孕妇年龄、教育程度、家庭月收入、产次及新生儿性别）进行校正后，我们发现脐带血浆中六氯环己烷总和（∑HCHs）、1,1 - 二氯 - 2,2 - 二（4 - 氯苯基）乙烯（ρ,ρ'-DDE）和甲氧滴滴涕的测量值与FT4水平存在边缘显著的负相关，但与FT3和TSH水平无关。此外，在校正混杂因素后发现，脐带血浆中艾氏剂、狄氏剂、滴滴涕总和（∑DDTs）、异狄氏剂总和（∑Drins）及OCPs总和水平较高与脐带血浆TSH水平升高有关。本探索性研究结果表明，子宫内接触某些OCPs可能影响新生儿的TH状态，因此对人类早期发育具有潜在影响。应开展更大样本量的进一步研究以证实这些发现。
