State Key Laboratory of Reproductive Medicine, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, 211166, Jiangsu, China; Department of Epidemiology, Center for Global Health, School of Public Health, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, 211166, Jiangsu, China.
State Key Laboratory of Reproductive Medicine, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, 211166, Jiangsu, China; Department of Epidemiology, Center for Global Health, School of Public Health, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, 211166, Jiangsu, China; Department of Obstetrics, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, 210029, Jiangsu, China.
Environ Res. 2022 Dec;215(Pt 2):114305. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2022.114305. Epub 2022 Sep 10.
Previous epidemiological studies have reported that prenatal exposure to metals might have influence on fetal growth. Most studies assessed the effect of individual metals, while the investigation on the relationship between multiple metal exposure and fetal growth is sparse. The objective of the present study is to assess the joint impact of metal mixtures on fetal growth during pregnancy. A total of 1275 maternal-infant pairs from the Jiangsu Birth Cohort (JBC) Study were included to investigate the effect of maternal metal exposure on fetal biometry measures at 22-24, 30-32, and 34-36 weeks of gestation. Lead (Pb), arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), mercury (Hg), chromium (Cr), vanadium(V), thallium (Tl) and barium (Ba) were measured by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) in maternal urine samples collected in the first trimester. We used general linear models and restricted cubic splines to test dose-response relationships between single metals and fetal growth. The weighted quantile sum (WQS) models were then applied to evaluate the overall effect of all these metals. We observed inverse associations of exposure to Pb, V and Cr with estimated fetal weight (EFW) at 34-36 weeks of gestation. Notably, maternal exposure to metal mixtures was significantly associated with reduced EFW at 34-36 weeks of gestation after adjusting for some covariates and confounders (aβ -0.05 [95% CI: 0.09, -0.01], P = 0.023), and this association was mainly driven by Cr (30.41%), Pb (23.92%), and Tl (15.60%). These findings indicated that prenatal exposure to metal mixtures might impose adverse effects on fetal growth.
先前的流行病学研究报告称，孕期金属暴露可能会对胎儿生长产生影响。大多数研究评估了单个金属的影响，而对多种金属暴露与胎儿生长之间关系的研究则较少。本研究旨在评估孕期金属混合物对胎儿生长的联合影响。共纳入 1275 对来自江苏出生队列（JBC）研究的母婴对，以调查母体金属暴露对妊娠 22-24、30-32 和 34-36 周时胎儿生物测量指标的影响。在妊娠早期采集的母体尿液样本中，通过电感耦合等离子体质谱法（ICP-MS）测定铅（Pb）、砷（As）、镉（Cd）、汞（Hg）、铬（Cr）、钒（V）、铊（Tl）和钡（Ba）。我们使用广义线性模型和限制性立方样条来检验单个金属与胎儿生长之间的剂量-反应关系。然后应用加权总量（WQS）模型来评估所有这些金属的总体效应。我们观察到 Pb、V 和 Cr 暴露与妊娠 34-36 周时的估计胎儿体重（EFW）呈负相关。值得注意的是，在调整了一些协变量和混杂因素后，母体金属混合物暴露与妊娠 34-36 周时的 EFW 显著降低相关（aβ-0.05 [95% CI: 0.09, -0.01]，P=0.023），这种关联主要由 Cr（30.41%）、Pb（23.92%）和 Tl（15.60%）驱动。这些发现表明，孕期金属混合物暴露可能对胎儿生长产生不利影响。
