Price Natalie F, Kiyanda Alexis, Tang Wan-Yee, Zimmerman Zachary, Catov Janet, Barchowsky Aaron, Galusha Aubrey L, Kannan Kurunthachalam, Mullin Elizabeth J, Parsons Patrick J, Bortey-Sam Nesta, Sanders Alison P
Department of Epidemiology, University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health, 130 De Soto Street,, Pittsburgh, PA, 15261, USA.
Environ Monit Assess. 2025 Jul 2;197(7):838. doi: 10.1007/s10661-025-14304-y.
Exposure to trace elements and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) during pregnancy is linked to adverse reproductive and developmental outcomes. High smoking rates in western Pennsylvania may influence exposure to these chemicals. We characterized PFAS, trace element, and smoking exposure in the second trimester of pregnancy among women in western Pennsylvania. We measured 38 urine trace elements and 11 serum PFAS in 46 pregnant women in 2017-2021 as part of a nested pilot study from the Magee Obstetric Maternal and Infant (MOMI) biobank and database. We statistically compared environmental chemical concentrations between smoking and non-smoking participants in the MOMI pilot study. Additionally, we descriptively compared MOMI concentrations to a nationally representative sample of US women of reproductive age from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) and to published studies characterizing exposures among international populations. Two PFAS (PFOA and PFOS) and 16 trace elements were highly detected in the MOMI pilot study sample. Smoking participants had distributions of 10 trace element concentrations that tended to be significantly higher compared to non-smoking participants, but no significant differences in the distributions of serum PFAS concentrations. All participants had summed PFAS concentrations > 2 μg/L-the National Academies of Sciences Engineering and Medicine threshold for recommending additional health screening. MOMI non-smoking participants had higher concentrations of seven trace elements and lower concentrations of both PFAS compared with NHANES non-smoking participants, while MOMI smoking participants had higher concentrations of 12 trace elements and lower concentrations of both PFAS compared with NHANES smoking participants. Further research is necessary to identify the sources of exposure, potential health effects, and effective strategies to reduce exposure to these environmental chemicals.
孕期接触微量元素以及全氟和多氟烷基物质（PFAS）与不良生殖和发育结局有关。宾夕法尼亚州西部的高吸烟率可能会影响对这些化学物质的接触。我们对宾夕法尼亚州西部女性孕期中期的PFAS、微量元素和吸烟接触情况进行了特征描述。作为梅杰母婴（MOMI）生物样本库和数据库的一项嵌套试点研究的一部分，我们在2017 - 2021年测量了46名孕妇的38种尿液微量元素和11种血清PFAS。我们在MOMI试点研究中对吸烟和不吸烟参与者的环境化学物质浓度进行了统计学比较。此外，我们还将MOMI的浓度与来自国家健康与营养检查调查（NHANES）的具有全国代表性的美国育龄女性样本以及描述国际人群接触情况的已发表研究进行了描述性比较。在MOMI试点研究样本中，两种PFAS（全氟辛酸和全氟辛烷磺酸）和16种微量元素被高度检测到。吸烟参与者的10种微量元素浓度分布往往比不吸烟参与者显著更高，但血清PFAS浓度分布没有显著差异。所有参与者的总PFAS浓度均>2μg/L——这是美国国家科学院、工程院和医学院建议进行额外健康筛查的阈值。与NHANES的不吸烟参与者相比，MOMI的不吸烟参与者有7种微量元素浓度更高，两种PFAS浓度更低；而与NHANES的吸烟参与者相比，MOMI的吸烟参与者有12种微量元素浓度更高，两种PFAS浓度更低。有必要进行进一步研究，以确定接触源、潜在健康影响以及减少接触这些环境化学物质的有效策略。
