Investigating geographic differences in environmental chemical exposures in maternal and cord sera using non-targeted screening and silicone wristbands in California

Wristband personal samplers enable human exposure assessments for a diverse range of chemical contaminants and exposure settings with a previously unattainable scale and cost-effectiveness. Paired with nontargeted analyses, wristbands can provide important exposure monitoring data to expand our understanding of the environmental exposome. Here, a custom scripted suspect screening workflow was developed in the R programming language for feature selection and chemical annotations using gas chromatography−high-resolution mass spectrometry data acquired from the analysis of wristband samples collected from five different cohorts. The workflow includes blank subtraction, internal standard normalization, prediction of chemical uses in products, and feature annotation using multiple library search metrics and metadata from PubChem, among other functionalities. The workflow was developed and validated against 104 analytes identified by targeted analytical results in previously published reports of wristbands. A true positive rate of 62 and 48% in a quality control matrix and wristband samples, respectively, was observed for our optimum set of parameters. Feature analysis identified 458 features that were significantly higher on femaleworn wristbands and only 21 features that were significantly higher on male-worn wristbands across all cohorts. Tentative identifications suggest that personal care products are a primary driver of the differences observed.

show abstract

Prenatal exposure to persistent and non-persistent chemical mixtures and associations with adverse birth outcomes in the Atlanta African American Maternal-Child Cohort

Eick

Tan

Taibl

et al. 2023

J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: African Americans (AAs) experience higher rates of preterm birth and fetal growth restriction relative to other pregnant populations. Differential in utero exposure to environmental chemicals may partially explain these health disparities, as AAs are disproportionately exposed to environmental hazards. Objective: We examined the individual and mixture effects of non-persistent chemicals and persistent organic pollutants (POPs) on gestational age at birth and birthweight for gestational age z-scores within a prospective cohort of pregnant AAs. Methods: First-trimester serum and urine samples obtained from participants within the Atlanta African American Maternal-Child cohort were analyzed for 43 environmental chemicals, including per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), organochlorine pesticides, pyrethroid insecticides, phthalates, bisphenol A, nicotine, and the primary metabolite of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol. Linear regression was used to estimate individual associations between chemicals and gestational age and birthweight z-scores (N ranging from 107 to 523). Mixture associations were estimated using quantile g-computation, principal component (PC) analyses, and hierarchical Bayesian kernel machine regression among complete cases (N=86). Results: Using quantile g-computation, increasing all chemical exposures by one quantile was modestly associated with a reduction in gestational age (mean change per quartile increase= −0.47, 95% CI= −1.56, 0.61) and birthweight z-scores (mean change per quartile increase= −0.49, 95% CI= −1.14, 0.15). All PCs were associated with a reduction in birthweight z-scores; associations were greatest in magnitude for the two PCs reflecting exposure to combined tobacco, insecticides, PBDEs, and phthalates. In single pollutant models, we observed inconsistent and largely non-significant associations. Signifance: We conducted multiple targeted exposure assessment methods to quantify levels of environmental chemicals and leveraged mixture methods to quantify their joint effects on gestational age and birthweight z-scores. Our findings suggest that prenatal exposure to multiple classes of persistent and non-persistent chemicals is associated with reduced gestational age and birthweight z-scores in AAs.

show abstract

Investigating geographic differences in environmental chemical exposures in maternal and cord sera using non-targeted screening and silicone wristbands in California

Cited by 4 publications

References 36 publications

Screening of Biological Samples with HRMS to Evaluate the External Human Chemical Exposome

Screening of Biological Samples with HRMS to Evaluate the External Human Chemical Exposome

Wristband Personal Passive Samplers and Suspect Screening Methods Highlight Gender Disparities in Chemical Exposures

Prenatal exposure to persistent and non-persistent chemical mixtures and associations with adverse birth outcomes in the Atlanta African American Maternal-Child Cohort

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About