Prenatal exposure to perfluoroalkyl acids and allergic diseases in early childhood

  • Environ Int. 2014 Apr:65:127-34. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2014.01.007.
Emiko Okada  1 ,  Seiko Sasaki  2 ,  Ikuko Kashino  2 ,  Hideyuki Matsuura  3 ,  Chihiro Miyashita  4 ,  Sumitaka Kobayashi  2 ,  Kumiko Itoh  2 ,  Tamiko Ikeno  4 ,  Akiko Tamakoshi  2 ,  Reiko Kishi  5
Affiliations
  • 1. Department of Public Health Sciences, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, North 15 West 7 Kita-ku, Sapporo 060-8638, Japan. Electronic address: [email protected].
  • 2. Department of Public Health Sciences, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, North 15 West 7 Kita-ku, Sapporo 060-8638, Japan.
  • 3. Laboratory of Bioorganic Chemistry, Division of Applied Bioscience, Research Faculty of Agriculture, Hokkaido University, North 9 West 9 Kita-ku, Sapporo 060-8589, Japan.
  • 4. Center for Environmental and Health Sciences, Hokkaido University, North 12 West 7 Kita-ku, Sapporo 060-0812, Japan.
  • 5. Center for Environmental and Health Sciences, Hokkaido University, North 12 West 7 Kita-ku, Sapporo 060-0812, Japan. Electronic address: [email protected].
PMID: 24486970 DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2014.01.007
Abstract

Perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) are persistent organic pollutants that are detected in humans worldwide. Laboratory animal studies have shown that PFAAs are associated with immunotoxic effects. However, epidemiological studies investigating the role of PFAAs, in particular PFAAs with longer chains than perfluorooctanoic acid, are scarce. We investigated associations between prenatal exposure to PFAAs, including long-chain compounds, and infant allergic diseases at 12 and 24months in a large study population. The participants included mothers and their infants who enrolled in the Hokkaido Study on Environment and Children's Health 2003-2009. Eleven PFAAs were measured in maternal plasma taken at 28-32weeks of gestation using ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled to triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry. Characteristics of participants and information on infant allergic diseases were obtained from self-administered questionnaires and medical records. At 24months, the adjusted odds ratio (OR) (first vs. fourth quartiles) for eczema in association with higher maternal perfluorotridecanoic acid (PFTrDA) levels was 0.62 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.45, 0.86). After stratification by gender, the adjusted ORs in female infants from mothers with higher maternal perfluoroundecanoic acid (PFUnDA) and PFTrDA levels were also statistically significant (PFUnDA: OR=0.50; 95% CI, 0.30, 0.81; PFTrDA: OR=0.39; 95% CI, 0.23, 0.64). Our findings suggest that lower prenatal exposure to PFTrDA may decrease the risk of developing eczema in early childhood, only in female infants.

Keywords
Allergic diseases; Eczema; Perfluoroalkyl acids; Perfluorotridecanoic acid; Prenatal exposure.
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