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Review
. 2021 Jan 16;18(2):742.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph18020742.

Associations of Maternal Stress, Prenatal Exposure to Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS), and Demographic Risk Factors with Birth Outcomes and Offspring Neurodevelopment: An Overview of the ECHO.CA.IL Prospective Birth Cohorts

Stephanie M Eick  1 , Elizabeth A Enright  2   3 , Sarah D Geiger  2   4 , Kelsey L C Dzwilewski  2 , Erin DeMicco  1 , Sabrina Smith  5 , June-Soo Park  5 , Andrea Aguiar  2   6 , Tracey J Woodruff  1 , Rachel Morello-Frosch  1   7 , Susan L Schantz  2   6
Affiliations
Review

Associations of Maternal Stress, Prenatal Exposure to Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS), and Demographic Risk Factors with Birth Outcomes and Offspring Neurodevelopment: An Overview of the ECHO.CA.IL Prospective Birth Cohorts

Stephanie M Eick et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: Infants whose mothers experience greater psychosocial stress and environmental chemical exposures during pregnancy may face greater rates of preterm birth, lower birth weight, and impaired neurodevelopment.

Methods: ECHO.CA.IL is composed of two cohorts, Chemicals in Our Bodies (CIOB; n = 822 pregnant women and n = 286 infants) and Illinois Kids Development Study (IKIDS; n = 565 mother-infant pairs), which recruit pregnant women from San Francisco, CA and Urbana-Champaign, IL, respectively. We examined associations between demographic characteristics and gestational age, birth weight z-scores, and cognition at 7.5 months across these two cohorts using linear models. We also examined differences in biomarkers of exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), measured in second-trimester serum, and psychosocial stressors by cohort and participant demographics.

Results: To date, these cohorts have recruited over 1300 pregnant women combined. IKIDS has mothers who are majority white (80%), whereas CIOB mothers are racially and ethnically diverse (38% white, 34% Hispanic, 17% Asian/Pacific Islander). Compared to CIOB, median levels of PFOS, a specific PFAS congener, are higher in IKIDS (2.45 ng/mL versus 1.94 ng/mL), while psychosocial stressors are higher among CIOB. Across both cohorts, women who were non-white and single had lower birth weight z-scores relative to white women and married women, respectively. Demographic characteristics are not associated with cognitive outcomes at 7.5 months.

Conclusions: This profile of the ECHO.CA.IL cohort found that mothers and their infants who vary in terms of socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity, and geographic location are similar in many of our measures of exposures and cognitive outcomes. Similar to past work, we found that non-white and single women had lower birth weight infants than white and married women. We also found differences in levels of PFOS and psychosocial stressors based on geographic location.

Keywords: birth outcomes; health disparities; neurodevelopment; per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances; psychosocial stress.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Distribution of polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) (ng/mL) levels with >75% detection stratified by cohort.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Distribution of PFAS (ng/mL) levels with >95% detection across selected demographic characteristics.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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