Association of Childhood Obesity With Maternal Exposure to Ambient Air Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons During Pregnancy

Abstract

There are concerns that prenatal exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals increases children's risk of obesity. African-American and Hispanic children born in the Bronx or Northern Manhattan, New York (1998-2006), whose mothers underwent personal air monitoring for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) exposure during pregnancy, were followed up to ages 5 (n = 422) and 7 (n = 341) years. At age 5 years, 21% of the children were obese, as were 25% of those followed to age 7 years. After adjustment for child's sex, age at measurement, ethnicity, and birth weight and maternal receipt of public assistance and prepregnancy obesity, higher prenatal PAH exposures were significantly associated with higher childhood body size. In adjusted analyses, compared with children of mothers in the lowest tertile of PAH exposure, children of mothers in the highest exposure tertile had a 0.39-unit higher body mass index z score (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.08, 0.70) and a relative risk of 1.79 (95% CI: 1.09, 2.96) for obesity at age 5 years, and they had a 0.30-unit higher body mass index z score (95% CI: 0.01, 0.59), a 1.93-unit higher percentage of body fat (95% CI: 0.33, 3.54), and a relative risk of 2.26 (95% CI: 1.28, 4.00) for obesity at age 7 years. The data indicate that prenatal exposure to PAHs is associated with obesity in childhood.

Chemical and non-chemical stressors affecting childhood obesity: a systematic scoping review

“…162 Prenatal air pollution exposures (PAHs, NO x , CO, PM) associated with birthweight have found either no associations or low birthweight, except for one report by Rundle et al, where prenatal exposures to PAHs were associated with obesity at age 7 years. 160,161,[163][164][165][166][167][168][169][170] Jerrett et al 162,171 examined the relationship between BMI levels in children and traffic density, air pollutants, and proximity of roadways to residential areas. In both studies, exposure to air pollutants resulted in increased BMI levels.…”

Race-Specific Association of Caesarean-Section Delivery with Body Size at Age 2 Years

“…Inverse probability weights were calculated by fitting a logistic regression model for complete followup at aged 2 years with the following baseline maternal factors: age, race, insurance type, income (including whether or not the question was answered), education, smoking status, alcohol use, urban residence, marital status, history of asthma/allergies, and mode of delivery and obtaining the predicted probability of successful follow-up. 42 The data were then reanalyzed using the IPW as weights in the logistic model as a way to adjust for bias due to incomplete follow-up.…”

Linking childhood allergic asthma phenotypes with endotype through integrated systems biology: current evidence and research needs

“…Environmental factors, which have been examined, include prenatal NO 2 air pollution exposure (10), prenatal exposure to maternal stress (9), postnatal exposure to air pollution (78), and obesity (79). These recent investigations identified differentially methylated regions (DMR) and related key epigenetic mechanisms altered in children.…”

“…These recent investigations identified differentially methylated regions (DMR) and related key epigenetic mechanisms altered in children. Candidate gene studies from DMR report oxidative stress, chronic inflammation, and antioxidant defense pathways in airways (10,(78)(79)(80).…”