Background: Perfluorocarboxylic acids (PFCAs) are environmentally and biologically persistent synthetic chemicals. PFCAs include perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA; C8) and long-chain PFCAs (C9–C20). Studies examining long-chain PFCAs and fetal and postnatal growth are limited.
Objectives: We investigated the associations of prenatal exposure to long-chain PFCAs with fetal and postnatal growth.
Methods: For 223 Taiwanese mothers and their term infants, we measured PFOA and four long-chain PFCAs (ng/mL) in third-trimester maternal serum; infant weight (kg), length and head circumference (cm) at birth; and childhood weight and height at approximately 2, 5, 8, and 11 years of age. For each sex, we used multivariable linear regression to examine associations between ln-transformed prenatal PFCAs and continuous infant measures, and logistic regression to examine small for gestational age (SGA). Linear mixed models were applied to prenatal PFCAs and childhood weight and height z-scores.
Results: In girls, prenatal perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA), perfluorodecanoic acid (PFDeA), perfluoroundecanoic acid (PFUnDA), and perfluorododecanoic acid (PFDoDA) concentrations were inversely associated with birth weight [e.g., βbirth weight (kg) = –0.06, 95% CI: –0.11, –0.01 per 1 ln-unit PFUnDA increase]; prenatal PFDeA and PFUnDA were associated with elevated odds of SGA; and PFDeA, PFUnDA, and PFDoDA were associated with lower average childhood height z-score. In boys, prenatal PFNA, and PFDoDA were associated with reductions in height at certain ages in childhood, but not with size at birth.
Conclusions: Prenatal exposure to long-chain PFCAs may interfere with fetal and childhood growth in girls, and childhood growth in boys.
1National Foundation for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA; 2Epidemiology Branch, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA; 3Department of Pediatrics, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan; 4National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Health Research Institutes, Zhunan, Miaoli County, Taiwan; 5Institute of Occupational Medicine and Industrial Hygiene, National Taiwan University College of Public Health, Taipei, Taiwan; 6Institute of Population Health Sciences, National Health Research Institutes, Zhunan, Miaoli County, Taiwan; 7Department of Public Health, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan; 8Department of Public Health, College of Public Health, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan
Recommended Citation:
Yan Wang,1,2 Margaret Adgent,et al. Prenatal Exposure to Perfluorocarboxylic Acids (PFCAs) and Fetal and Postnatal Growth in the Taiwan Maternal and Infant Cohort Study[J]. Environmental Health Perspectives,2016-01-01,Volume 124(Issue 11):1794