Prenatal Exposure to Polybrominated Flame Retardants and Fetal Growth in the INMA Cohort (Spain)

Our aim was to investigate the relation between PBDEs and fetal growth or newborn anthropometry in a Spanish cohort (2003-2008). PBDE congeners (BDE-47, -99, -153, -154, and -209) were determined in serum of 670 mothers at gestational week 12 and in 534 umbilical cord samples. Abdominal circumference (AC), estimated fetal weight (EFW), femur length (FL), and biparietal diameter (BPD) during gestation were measured by ultrasounds. At birth, weight (BW), head circumference (HC), and length (BL) were also measured. We assessed growth in the intervals between 12-20 and 20-34 weeks of gestation and size at birth by standard deviation (SD)-scores adjusted for constitutional characteristics. We conducted multivariate linear regression analyses between PBDE congeners and their sum (ΣPBDEs) and outcomes. We found statistically significant inverse associations between ΣPBDEs and AC, EFW, and BPD at weeks 20-34 and HC at birth. Regarding congeners, the association was clearer with BDE-99, with inverse associations being found with AC, EFW, and BPD at weeks 20-34, and with BW and HC at delivery. These outcomes decreased between 1.3% and 3.5% for each 2-fold PBDE increase. Concerning matrices, we found statistically significant inverse associations with BPD, HC, and BW when using maternal serum, and for AC and EFW with cord serum. In conclusion, PBDEs may impair fetal growth in late pregnancy and reduce birth size. © 2015 American Chemical Society.The authors are grateful to mothers who participated in the study and to San Agustin Hospital in Aviles and La Fe Hospital in Valencia. This work was supported by grants from the European Union (FP7-ENV-2011 cod 282957 and HEALTH.2010.2.4.5-1), and grants from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III in Spain (Red INMA G03/176, CB06/02/0041, and FIS-FEDER PI03/1615, PI04/1509, PI04/1112, PI04/1931, PI04/2018, PI05/1079, PI05/1052, PI06/1213, PI07/0314, PI09/02647, PI09/02311, PI11/01007, PI11/02591, PI11/02038, MS11/0178, PI13/1944, PI13/02429, PI14/00891, and PI14/01687), Conselleria de Sanitat of the Generalitat Valenciana, Obra Social Cajastur and University of Oviedo.Peer reviewe