Balte Pallavi P, Kühr Joachim, Kruse Herrman, Karmaus Wilfried J J
Division of General Medicine, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY 10032, USA.
Clinic for Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine Klinikum Karlsruhe, Karlsruhe 76133, Germany.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2017 Nov 14;14(11):1376. doi: 10.3390/ijerph14111376.
Longitudinal studies have shown that early life exposure to dichlorodiphenyl dichloroethene (DDE) can lead to growth reduction during childhood and adolescence. In addition, DDE exposure has been linked to respiratory tract infections and an increased risk of asthma in children. Our aim was to understand the relationships between DDE exposure and pulmonary function in children, and, particularly, whether associations are mediated by the height of the children. We used data from an environmental epidemiologic study conducted in central Germany in children aged 8-10 years. The pulmonary function (forced vital capacity, FVC, and forced expiratory volume in one second, FEV1) were measured in three consecutive years. Blood DDE levels were measured at 8 and 10 years. We used linear mixed models for repeated measurements and path analyses to assess the association between blood levels of DDE and pulmonary function measurements. All models were adjusted for confounders. Linear mixed approaches and modelling concurrent effects showed no significant associations. The path analytical models demonstrated that DDE measured at eight years had significant, inverse, indirect, and total effects on FVC at ten years ( = 328; -0.18 L per μg/L of DDE) and FEV1 ( = 328; -0.17 L per μg/L of DDE), mediated through effects of DDE on height and weight. The DDE burden reduces pulmonary function through its diminishing effects on height and weight in children. Further studies are required to test these associations in other samples, preferably from a region with ongoing, high DDT application.
纵向研究表明，儿童早期接触二氯二苯二氯乙烯（DDE）会导致儿童期和青少年期生长发育迟缓。此外，接触DDE与儿童呼吸道感染及哮喘风险增加有关。我们的目的是了解儿童接触DDE与肺功能之间的关系，特别是这种关联是否由儿童身高介导。我们使用了在德国中部对8至10岁儿童进行的一项环境流行病学研究的数据。连续三年测量肺功能（用力肺活量，FVC，和一秒用力呼气容积，FEV1）。在8岁和10岁时测量血液中的DDE水平。我们使用线性混合模型进行重复测量和路径分析，以评估血液中DDE水平与肺功能测量值之间的关联。所有模型均对混杂因素进行了校正。线性混合方法和并发效应建模均未显示出显著关联。路径分析模型表明，8岁时测得的DDE对10岁时的FVC（ = 328；每μg/L DDE为-0.18 L）和FEV1（ = 328；每μg/L DDE为-0.17 L）有显著的、反向的、间接的和总体效应，这是通过DDE对身高和体重的影响介导的。DDE负担通过其对儿童身高和体重的削弱作用降低肺功能。需要进一步的研究来在其他样本中验证这些关联，最好是来自正在大量使用滴滴涕的地区的样本。
