Journal Article Ppublish 5 citations
PubMed: 40505241 DOI: 10.1161/JAHA.124.039949
Prenatal Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substance Exposures and Longitudinal Blood Pressure Measurements in Children Aged 3 to 18 Years: Findings From a Racially and Ethnically Diverse US Birth Cohort.
J Am Heart Assoc 14(12):e039949
Authors: Zeyu Li, Guoying Wang, Xiumei Hong, Tammy M Brady, Colleen Pearson, Jessie P Buckley, Xiaobin Wang, Mingyu Zhang
Affiliations
- Center on the Early Life Origins of Disease, Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Baltimore MD USA.
- Department of Pediatrics Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Baltimore MD USA.
- Department of Pediatrics Boston University Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine and Boston Medical Center Boston MA USA.
- Department of Epidemiology University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chapel Hill NC USA.
- Department of Environmental Health and Engineering Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Baltimore MD USA.
- Department of Medicine Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School Boston MA USA.
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Prenatal per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS) exposures may influence offspring blood pressure (BP), but long-term studies in diverse populations remain limited.
METHODS
Participants were from the Boston Birth Cohort. We measured PFAS in maternal plasma collected 24 to 72 hours after delivery and extracted children's BP from medical records. We calculated age-, sex-, and height-specific BP percentiles and defined elevated BP as systolic/diastolic BP ≥90th percentile (ages 3 to <13 years) or ≥120/80 mm Hg (ages 13 to <18 years). We used adjusted mixed-effects linear and modified Poisson models to examine associations of PFAS with BP percentiles and elevated BP. We used linear spline mixed-effects models to predict BP trajectories at ages 3 to 18 years by PFAS levels.
RESULTS
We included 13 404 BP measurements from 1094 children (median follow-up: 12 years [interquartile range, 9-15 years]; 61% Black and 22% Hispanic). Overall, higher perfluorodecanoic acid (PFDeA), perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA), and perfluoroundecanoic acid (PFUnA) were associated with higher systolic BP percentile. The associations differed by child life stage, sex, race and ethnicity. For example, associations of PFDeA with systolic BP percentile were stronger in older (β 3-5y=0.40; β 6-12y=1.06; β 13-18y=2.55), male (β male=1.51; β female=0.52), and Black (β Black=1.75; β Hispanic=0.45) children. In male children, each doubling of perfluoroheptanesulfonic acid (PFHpS) was associated with a 9% higher risk of elevated BP at ages 6 to 12 years and a 17% higher risk at 13 to 18 years, with no increased risk at 3 to 5 years. PFHpS was associated with a dose-dependent divergence in BP trajectories beginning at age 13 years.
CONCLUSIONS
Prenatal exposures to certain PFAS were associated with offspring BP, with stronger associations in adolescents, male children, and Black children. Prenatal PFAS exposures may have intergenerational, long-term, and latent hypertensive effects.
MeSH
Research Design, Hypertension, Heart Diseases, Blood, Parturition, Environmental Pollutants, Blood Pressure, Aged, Sex, Pediatrics, Child