Lee Harin, Hall Amber M, Calafat Antonia M, Chen Aimin, Fazili Zia, Lanphear Bruce P, Pfeiffer Christine M, Yolton Kimberly, Braun Joseph M
Hastings High School, Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, New York.
Department of Epidemiology, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island.
Environ Epidemiol. 2025 Jun 30;9(4):e406. doi: 10.1097/EE9.0000000000000406. eCollection 2025 Aug.
Folate plays a critical role during pregnancy, preventing neural tube defects and possibly adverse neurodevelopment. Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are synthetic chemicals that may decrease folate levels. Although some studies have found associations between PFAS and folate, we are unaware of studies conducted in pregnant women. To address this knowledge gap, we evaluated associations between PFAS and whole blood folate (WBF) in pregnant women.
We used data from 288 pregnant women in the Health Outcomes and Measures of the Environment (HOME) Study, a pregnancy and birth cohort in the Cincinnati Ohio area. We measured eight serum PFAS and WBF concentrations at 16 weeks' gestation. We used linear regression to estimate the effect of each PFAS on WBF, and quantile-based g-computation and Bayesian kernel machine regression (BKMR) to investigate the joint effect of PFAS on WBF, adjusting for parity, prenatal vitamin intake, maternal race/ethnicity, household income, maternal age, and second trimester smoking status in all models. In addition, we investigated interactions between PFAS using BKMR.
We did not observe inverse associations of individual PFAS or their mixture with WBF, nor interactions between PFAS in the BKMR model in pregnant women.
Future studies could consider WBF measures in late pregnancy to evaluate other periods of susceptibility. Furthermore, as people are exposed to multiple PFAS, future studies should continue to consider joint PFAS exposure.
叶酸在孕期发挥着关键作用，可预防神经管缺陷并可能预防不良神经发育。全氟和多氟烷基物质（PFAS）是一类合成化学物质，可能会降低叶酸水平。尽管一些研究发现了PFAS与叶酸之间的关联，但我们并不知晓在孕妇中开展的相关研究。为填补这一知识空白，我们评估了孕妇中PFAS与全血叶酸（WBF）之间的关联。
我们使用了来自健康结果与环境测量（HOME）研究中288名孕妇的数据，该研究是俄亥俄州辛辛那提地区的一项妊娠与出生队列研究。我们在妊娠16周时测量了八种血清PFAS和WBF浓度。我们使用线性回归来估计每种PFAS对WBF的影响，并使用基于分位数的g计算和贝叶斯核机器回归（BKMR）来研究PFAS对WBF的联合影响，在所有模型中对产次、产前维生素摄入量、母亲种族/民族、家庭收入、母亲年龄和孕中期吸烟状况进行了调整。此外，我们使用BKMR研究了PFAS之间的相互作用。
我们未观察到孕妇个体PFAS或其混合物与WBF之间存在负相关，在BKMR模型中也未观察到PFAS之间的相互作用。
未来的研究可以考虑在妊娠晚期测量WBF，以评估其他易感时期。此外，由于人们会接触多种PFAS，未来的研究应继续考虑PFAS的联合暴露情况。
