Cord Serum Concentrations of Perfluorooctane Sulfonate (PFOS) and Perfluorooctanoate (PFOA) in Relation to Weight and Size at Birth

Abstract

BackgroundRecent studies have reported developmental toxicity among rodents dosed with perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoate (PFOA).ObjectivesWe examined the relationship between concentrations of PFOS and PFOA in cord serum (surrogates for in utero exposures) and gestational age, birth weight, and birth size in humans.MethodsWe conducted a hospital-based cross-sectional epidemiologic study of singleton deliveries in Baltimore, Maryland. Cord serum samples (n = 293) were analyzed for PFOS and PFOA by online solid-phase extraction, coupled with reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography–isotope dilution tandem mass spectrometry. Maternal characteristics and anthropometric measures were obtained from medical charts.ResultsAfter adjusting for potential confounders, both PFOS and PFOA were negatively associated with birth weight [per ln-unit: β = −69 g, 95% confidence interval (CI), −149 to 10 for PFOS; β = −104 g, 95% CI, −213 to 5 for PFOA], ponderal index (per ln-unit: β = −0.074 g/cm3 × 100, 95% CI, −0.123 to −0.025 for PFOS; β = −0.070 g/cm3 × 100, 95% CI, −0.138 to −0.001 for PFOA), and head circumference (per ln-unit: β = −0.32 cm, 95% CI, −0.56 to −0.07 for PFOS; β = −0.41 cm, 95% CI, −0.76 to −0.07 for PFOA). No associations were observed between either PFOS or PFOA concentrations and newborn length or gestational age. All associations were independent of cord serum lipid concentrations.ConclusionsDespite relatively low cord serum concentrations, we observed small negative associations between both PFOS and PFOA concentrations and birth weight and size. Future studies should attempt to replicate these findings in other populations.

Determinants of maternal and fetal exposure and temporal trends of perfluorinated compounds

“…PFOS and PFOA levels were roughly the same across the maternal age groups, which is in accordance with the previous studies by Inoue et al (2004) and Apelberg et al (2007a In two previous studies, no associations between maternal BMI and maternal or cord serum PFC levels were found which are consistent with our results (Inoue et al 2004;Rylander et al 2009). Three other studies showed inverse associations between PFOS and PFOA levels and BMI in women or men (Fei et al 2007;Eriksen et al 2011;Lindh et al 2012).…”

“…PFCs have been shown to cross the placenta (Inoue et al 2004;Liu et al 2011;Gützkow et al 2012) and thus have a potential to exert a direct influence on the developing fetus (Apelberg et al 2007a;Fei et al 2007). According to previous studies, the median PFC concentrations in cord blood ranged from 30 to 130% of the maternal concentrations (Liu et al, 2011, Kim et al 2011a, Gützkow et al 2012).…”

“…Consequently, higher levels of PFOA were measured in cord blood from male fetuses. Previous research on sex effect on PFC exposure is contradicting and has no reasonable explanation (Inoue et al 2004;Apelberg et al 2007a;Zhang et al 2011). We believe that our finding is a chance finding and could be due to multiple testing.…”

Synergistic effects of perfluoroalkyl acids mixtures with J-shaped concentration–responses on viability of a human liver cell line

“…Many PFAAs, which are highly resistant to degradation and are environmentally persistent (Conder et al, 2008), have been widely used in commercial and industrial products (Renner, 2001). Because of their wide industrial application and common global use in consumer products in recent decades, PFAAs have been detected in the liver, fat, and serum of wildlife (De Silva and Mabury, 2006), and in human serum and blood (Kannan et al, 2004), breast milk (Kärrman et al, 2006), and umbilical cord blood (Apelberg et al, 2007). Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) both dominate in human serum (Lau et al, 2004) and a number of PFSAs and PFCAs of varying chain length (C4-C14) have also been detected in human body fluids, though at lower levels (Olsen et al, 2005).…”

Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances: current and future perspectives

“…[52] A large cross-sectional study involving the analysis of 293 samples of cord blood from Baltimore, Maryland, USA, compared PFOS and PFOA levels to birth outcomes of gestational age, birthweight, birth length, head circumference and ponderal index and showed negative associations between concentrations of PFOS and PFOA and ponderal index. [53] Maternal blood concentrations of PFOA, but not PFOS, were negatively associated with birthweight in newborns from Denmark. [54] A further study reported a statistically significant negative correlation between abdominal circumference and maternal PFOA, a statistically significant positive association between ponderal index to maternal PFOA of women who were obese before pregnancy, and a statistically non-significant negative correlation between head circumference and maternal PFOA.…”