Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) were among various persistent organic pollutants suspected to have been released during the collapse of the World Trade Center (WTC) on 9/11. Evidence on the ...association between prenatal PFAS exposure and child neurodevelopment is limited and inconsistent. This study evaluated the association between prenatal PFAS exposure and child cognitive outcomes measured at 5 different time points in a population prenatally exposed to the WTC disaster. The study population included 302 pregnant women in the Columbia University WTC birth cohort enrolled between December 13, 2001 and June 26, 2002 at three hospitals located near the WTC site: Beth Israel, St. Vincent’s, and New York University Downtown. We evaluated the association between prenatal exposure to four PFAS (perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluorohexanesulfonic acid (PFHxS), perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA)) and child neurodevelopment measured using the Bayley Scales of Infant Development (BSID-II) at approximately 1, 2 and 3 years of age and using The Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (WPPSI) at approximately 4 and 6 years of age. Geometric mean (range) concentrations of PFAS were 6.03 (1.05, 33.7), 2.31 (0.18, 8.14), 0.43 (<LOQ, 10.3) and 0.67 (<LOQ, 15.8) ng/mL for PFOS, PFOA, PFNA and PFHxS, respectively. Several PFAS were associated with increases in cognitive outcomes in females and overall (males and females combined). Child sex modified the association between PFOS and the mental development index measured using BSID-II, with the observed relationship being positive for females and negative for males. Through principal component analyses, we observed a negative relationship between PFNA and the psychomotor development index measured using BSID-II and the verbal IQ measured using WPPSI. Our results suggest a sex- and compound-specific relationship between prenatal PFAS exposures and childhood neurodevelopment.
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•Perfluoralkyl substances (PFAS) are widespread environmental toxicants.•PFAS cross the placenta, exposing the fetus during vulnerable developmental periods.•Findings on prenatal PFAS exposure and child neurodevelopment are inconsistent.•We found sex- and compound-specific trends for this relationship.
Main Findings: We found sex- and compound-specific relationships between prenatal PFAS exposures and childhood neurodevelopment.
Objective: This study was designed to determine whether prenatal mercury exposure, including potential releases from the World Trade Center (WTC) disaster, adversely affects fetal growth and child ...development. Methods: We determined maternal and umbilical cord blood total mercury of nonsmoking women who delivered at term in lower Manhattan after 11 September 2001, and measured birth outcomes and child development. Results: Levels of total mercury in cord and maternal blood were not significantly higher for women who resided or worked within 1 or 2 miles of the WTC in the month after 11 September, compared with women who lived and worked farther away. Average cord mercury levels were more than twice maternal levels, and both were elevated in women who reported eating fish/seafood during pregnancy. Regression analyses showed no significant association between (ln) cord or maternal blood total mercury and birth outcomes. Log cord mercury was inversely associated with the Bayley Scales of Infant Development psychomotor score Psychomotor Development Index (PDI) at 36 months (b = -4.2, p = 0.007) and with Performance (b = -3.4, p = 0.023), Verbal (b = -2.9, p = 0.023), and Full IQ scores (b = -3.8, p = 0.002) on the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence, Revised (WPPSI-R), at 48 months, after controlling for fish/seafood consumption and other confounders. Fish/seafood consumption during pregnancy was significantly associated with a 5.6- to 9.9-point increase in 36-month PDI, and 48-month Verbal and Full IQ scores. Conclusions: Blood mercury was not significantly raised in women living or working close to the WTC site in the weeks after 11 September 2001. Higher cord blood mercury was associated with reductions in developmental scores at 36 and 48 months, after adjusting for the positive effects of fish/seafood consumption during pregnancy.
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), of which benzoapyrene is a representative member, are combustion-related environmental pollutants and include known carcinogens. Laboratory animal studies ...indicate that the dose of PAHs to the fetus is on the order of a 10th that to the mother and that there is heightened susceptibility to PAH-induced carcinogenesis during the fetal and infancy periods. Carcinogen-DNA adducts, a measure of procarcinogenic genetic damage, are considered a biomarker of increased cancer risk. Here we compare the levels of benzoapyrene-DNA adducts as a proxy for PAH-DNA damage measured in maternal blood and newborn cord blood obtained at delivery in four different populations of mothers (total of 867) and newborns (total of 822), representing a 30-fold range of exposure to ambient PAHs. The populations include residents in Northern Manhattan, participants in a study of the effects of the World Trade Center disaster, residents in Krakow, Poland, and residents in Tongliang, China. Mean adduct concentrations in both maternal and cord blood and the proportion of samples with detectable adducts, increased across the populations Northern Manhattan < World Trade Center (WTC) < Krakow < Tongliang, consistent with the trend in estimated ambient exposure to PAHs (P < 0.001). For mothers, the means in the respective populations were Northern Manhattan (0.21 adducts per 10(8) nucleotides), WTC (0.23 adducts per 10(8) nucleotides), Krakow (0.28 adducts per 10(8) nucleotides), Tongliang (0.31 adducts per 10(8) nucleotides); the corresponding means in the newborns were Northern Manhattan (0.23), WTC (0.24), Krakow (0.29), Tongliang (0.31). The percentage of mothers with detectable levels of adducts in the respective populations were Northern Manhattan (36.8%), WTC (57.5%), Krakow (72.9%), Tongliang (73.4%); the corresponding percentages among the newborns were Northern Manhattan (42.4%), WTC (60.6%), Krakow (71.1%), Tongliang (79.5%). Despite the estimated 10-fold lower PAH dose to the fetus based on laboratory animal experiments, the adduct levels in the newborns were similar to or higher than in the mothers. This study suggests that the fetus may be 10-fold more susceptible to DNA damage than the mother and that in utero exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons may disproportionately increase carcinogenic risk. The data support preventive policies to limit PAH exposure to pregnant women and children.
The effects of prenatal exposure to pollutants from the World Trade Center (WTC) disaster on fetal growth and subsequent health and development of exposed children remain a source of concern. We ...assessed the impact of gestational timing of the disaster and distance from the WTC in the 4 weeks after 11 September on the birth outcomes of 300 nonsmoking women who were pregnant at the time of the event. They were recruited at delivery between December 2001 and June 2002 from three hospitals close to the WTC site. Residential and work addresses of all participants for each of the 4 weeks after 11 September 2001 were geocoded for classification by place and timing of exposure. Average daily hours spent at each location were based on the women's reports for each week. Biomedical pregnancy and delivery data extracted from the medical records of each mother and newborn included medical complications, type of delivery, length of gestation, birth weight, birth length, and head circumference. Term infants born to women who were pregnant on 11 September 2001 and who were living within a 2-mile radius of the WTC during the month after the event showed significant decrements in term birth weight (-149 g) and birth length (-0.82 cm), compared with infants born to the other pregnant women studied, after controlling for sociodemographic and biomedical risk factors. The decrements remained significant with adjustment for gestational duration (-122 g and -0.74 cm, respectively). Women in the first trimester of pregnancy at the time of the WTC event delivered infants with significantly shorter gestation (-3.6 days) and a smaller head circumference (-0.48 cm), compared with women at later stages of pregnancy, regardless of the distance of their residence or work sites from the WTC. The observed adverse effects suggest an impact of pollutants and/or stress related to the WTC disaster and have implications for the health and development of exposed children.
Background: Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), including benzoapyrene (BaP), are air pollutants released by the World Trade Center (WTC) fires and urban combustion sources. BaP-DNA adducts ...provide a measure of PAH-specific genetic damage, which has been associated with increased risk of adverse birth outcomes and cancer. We previously reported that levels of BaP-DNA adducts in maternal and umbilical cord blood obtained at delivery were elevated among subjects who had resided within 1 mile of the WTC site during the month after 9/11; and that elevated blood adducts in combination with in utero exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) were significantly associated with decreased fetal growth. Objective: Our aim was to assess possible effects of prenatal exposure to WTC pollutants on child development. Methods: After 11 September 2001, we enrolled a cohort of nonsmoking pregnant women who delivered at three lower Manhattan hospitals. We have followed a subset of children through their third birthdays and measured cognitive and motor development using the Bayley-II Scales of Child Development (BSID-II). Results: In multivariate analyses, we found a significant interaction between cord blood adducts and in utero exposure to ETS on mental development index score at 3 years of age (p = 0.02, n = 98) whereas neither adducts nor ETS alone was a significant predictor of (BSID-II) cognitive development. Conclusion: Although limited by small numbers, these results suggest that exposure to elevated levels of PAHs in conjunction with prenatal ETS exposure may have contributed to a modest reduction in cognitive development among cohort children.
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are toxic pollutants released by the World Trade Center (WTC) fires and various urban combustion sources. Benzoapyrene (BaP) is a representative member of the ...class of PAHs. PHA-DNA adducts, or BaP-DNA adducts as their proxy, provide a measure of chemical-specific genetic damage that has been associated with increased risk of adverse birth outcomes and cancer. To learn whether PAHs from the WTC disaster increased levels of genetic damage in pregnant women and their newborns, we analyzed BaP-DNA adducts in maternal (n = 170) and umbilical cord blood (n = 203) obtained at delivery from nonsmoking women who were pregnant on 11 September 2001 and were enrolled at delivery at three downtown Manhattan hospitals. The mean adduct levels in cord and maternal blood were highest among newborns and mothers who resided within 1 mi of the WTC site during the month after 11 September, intermediate among those who worked but did not live within this area, and lowest in those who neither worked nor lived within 1 mi (reference group). Among newborns of mothers living within 1 mi of the WTC site during this period, levels of cord blood adducts were inversely correlated with linear distance from the WTC site (p = 0.02). To learn whether PAHs from the WTC disaster may have affected birth outcomes, we analyzed the relationship between these outcomes and DNA adducts in umbilical cord blood, excluding preterm births to reduce variability. There were no independent fetal growth effects of either PAH-DNA adducts or environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), but adducts in combination with in utero exposure to ETS were associated with decreased fetal growth. Specifically, a doubling of adducts among ETS-exposed subjects corresponded to an estimated average 276-g (8%) reduction in birth weight (p = 0.03) and a 1.3-cm (3%) reduction in head circumference (p = 0.04). The findings suggest that exposure to elevated levels of PAHs, indicated by PAH-DNA adducts in cord blood, may have contributed to reduced fetal growth in women exposed to the WTC event.
Abstract
Introduction
Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) were among various persistent organic pollutants suspected to have been released during the collapse of the World Trade Center (WTC) on ...9/11/2001. Evidence suggests that PFAS may have cardiometabolic effects, including alterations in lipid profiles. This study evaluated the association between cord blood PFAS and lipids in a population prenatally exposed to the WTC disaster.
Study Population
222 pregnant women in the Columbia University WTC birth cohort enrolled between December 13, 2001 and June 26, 2002 at hospitals located near the WTC site: Beth Israel, St. Vincent’s, and New York University Downtown.
Methods
We evaluated the association between 5 cord blood PFAS—perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluorohexanesulfonic acid (PFHxS), perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA), perfluorodecane sulfonate (PFDS)—and cord blood lipids (total lipids, total cholesterol, triglycerides).
Results
Median (interquartile range IQR) concentrations of PFAS were 6.32 (4.58–8.57), 2.46 (1.77–3.24), 0.38 (0.25–0.74), 0.66 (0.48–0.95) and 0.11 (0.09–0.16) ng/mL for PFOS, PFOA, PFNA, PFHxS, and PFDS, respectively. Median (IQR) for lipids were 59.0 (51.5–68.5) mg/dL for total cholesterol, 196.5 (170.5–221.2) mg/dL for total lipids and 33.1 (24.2–43.9) mg/dL for triglycerides. In fully adjusted models, several PFAS were associated with higher lipid levels, including evidence of a strong linear trend between triglycerides and both PFOA and PFHxS.
Conclusions
Findings support previous evidence of an association between PFAS exposure and altered lipid profiles and add novel information on this relationship in cord blood, as well as for an understudied PFAS, PFDS (J Clin Endocrinol Metab 105: 43–54, 2020).
Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) may have been released during the collapse of the World Trade Center (WTC) on 9/11. Evidence suggests PFAS can cross the placental barrier in humans and cause harm to ...the developing fetus; however, no studies have measured PFAS in mothers exposed to the WTC disaster during pregnancy. We measured PFAS in maternal plasma (n = 48) or cord blood (n = 231) from pregnant women in the Columbia University WTC birth cohort, enrolled between December 13, 2001 and June 26, 2002 at one of three hospitals located near the WTC site. In order to maximize sample size, we used a linear regression to transform the 48 maternal plasma samples to cord blood equivalents in our study; cord blood and transformed maternal plasma-to-cord blood samples were then analyzed together. We evaluated the association between WTC exposure and PFAS concentrations using three exposure variables: 1) living/working within two miles of WTC; 2) living within two miles of WTC regardless of work location; and 3) working but not living within two miles of WTC. Exposure was compared with those not living/working within two miles of WTC (reference group). Living/working within two miles of WTC was associated with 13% higher perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) concentrations compared with the reference group GMR (95% CI): 1.13 (1.01, 1.27). The association was stronger when comparing only those who lived within two miles of WTC to the reference group GMR (95% CI): 1.17 (1.03, 1.33), regardless of work location. Our results provide evidence that exposure to the WTC disaster during pregnancy resulted in increases in PFAS concentrations, specifically PFOA. This work identifies a potentially vulnerable and overlooked population, children exposed to the WTC disaster in utero, and highlights the importance of future longitudinal studies in this cohort to investigate later life effects resulting from these early life exposures.
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•Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) may have been released during the 9/11 disaster.•PFAS can cross the placenta potentially harming the fetus.•Proximity to the 9/11 site was associated with increases in a cord blood PFAS.•Longterm health effects in children exposed to 9/11 in utero should be evaluated.
Our work provides evidence that exposure to the World Trade Center disaster during pregnancy resulted in increases in cord blood concentrations of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA).
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