Key Laboratory of Environment and Health, Ministry of Education & Ministry of Environmental Protection, State Key Laboratory of Environment Health (Incubation), School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430030, China.
Guangdong Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution and Health, School of Environment, Jinan University, Guangzhou 511443, China.
Environ Sci Technol. 2020 Mar 17;54(6):3375-3385. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.9b06026. Epub 2020 Mar 5.
Organophosphate flame retardants (OPFRs), used as flame retardants and plasticizers, have been suggested to impair fetal growth and development in toxicological studies, but epidemiological data are extremely limited. This study was designed to explore whether prenatal exposure to OPFRs was associated with an increased risk of low birth weight (LBW) using a nested case-control design based on the ongoing prospective birth cohort in Wuhan, China. A total of 113 cases and 226 matched controls recruited from this cohort project in 2014-2016 were included. OPFR metabolite concentrations in maternal urine samples collected in the third trimester were determined, and birth outcomes were extracted from medical records. Compared with the lowest tertile of diphenyl phosphate (DPHP) concentrations, pregnant women with the highest tertile of DPHP had a 4.62-fold (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.72, 12.40) significantly increased risk for giving birth to LBW infants, with a significant dose-response relationship (-trend < 0.01). After stratification by newborn sex, the significant positive association of DPHP levels with LBW risk was merely observed among female newborns. Our results suggest a positive association between maternal urinary DPHP concentrations and LBW risk for the first time, and the effect appears be sex-specific.
有机磷阻燃剂（OPFRs）作为阻燃剂和增塑剂被广泛应用，在毒理学研究中提示其可能损害胎儿生长发育，但目前的流行病学数据极其有限。本研究旨在基于中国武汉正在进行的前瞻性出生队列，采用巢式病例对照设计，探索孕妇产前接触 OPFRs 是否与低出生体重（LBW）风险增加相关。本研究共纳入了 2014 年至 2016 年期间该队列项目中招募的 113 例病例和 226 例匹配对照。采集了孕妇在妊娠晚期的尿液样本，检测其中的 OPFR 代谢物浓度，并从病历中提取了出生结局。与 DPHP 浓度最低三分位数相比，浓度最高三分位数的孕妇生育 LBW 婴儿的风险增加了 4.62 倍（95%置信区间（CI）：1.72，12.40），呈显著剂量反应关系（-趋势<0.01）。在按新生儿性别分层后，仅在女婴中观察到 DPHP 水平与 LBW 风险之间存在显著正相关。本研究结果首次提示母体尿液中 DPHP 浓度与 LBW 风险之间存在正相关，且该效应具有性别特异性。
