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Body mass index in young school-age children in relation to organochlorine compounds in early life: a prospective study

International Journal of Obesity volume 38, pages 919–925 (2014)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Objective:

To investigate the association between maternal pregnancy and estimated postnatal serum concentrations of the organochlorines 2,2′,4,4′,5,5′-hexachlorobiphenyl (CB-153) and 1,1-dichloro-2,2-bis(p-chlorophenyl)ethylene (p,p'-DDE) and body mass index (BMI) z-scores in 5- to 9-year-old children.

Methods:

Maternal sera from the INUENDO birth cohort (2002–2004) comprising mother–child pairs (N=1109) from Greenland, Warsaw (Poland), and Kharkiv (Ukraine) were analysed for CB-153 and p,p'-DDE, using gas chromatography-mass-spectrometry, and were grouped into tertiles for statistical analyses. A toxicokinetic model was used to estimate the first 12 months cumulative exposure to the compounds. Associations between these compounds and child age- and sex-specific BMI z-scores were calculated at follow-up (2010–2012), using multiple linear regression analysis.

Results:

No clear associations between pregnancy CB-153 and p,p'-DDE and child BMI were observed (the pooled differences in BMI z-score (95% confidence interval) comparing 3rd tertile to 1st tertile were −0.07 (−0.32 to 0.18) and −0.10 (−0.30 to 0.10) kg m−2, respectively). For postnatal CB-153 and p,p'-DDE and BMI, the overall differences in BMI z-score comparing 3rd tertile to 1st tertile were 0.12 (−0.15 to 0.39) and −0.03 (−0.20 to 0.27) kg m−2, respectively.

Conclusions:

This follow-up study of Greenlandic, Polish and Ukrainian populations showed no clear association between pregnancy and postnatal exposure to p,p'-DDE and CB-153 and BMI at the age of 5–9 years.

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Acknowledgements

The CLEAR (Climate change, environmental contaminants and reproductive health, http://www.inuendo.dk/clear) and INUENDO (Biopersistent organochlorines in diet and human fertility) studies were funded by the European Commission’s 7th and 5th Framework Programmes, respectively (grants FP7-ENV-2008-1-226217 and QLK4-CT-2001-00202).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Occupational Medicine, Danish Ramazzini Centre, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus C, Denmark

    B B Høyer & G Toft

  2. Department of Public Health, Section for Epidemiology, Aarhus University, Aarhus C, Denmark

    C H Ramlau-Hansen

  3. Department of Paediatrics, Perinatal Epidemiology Research Unit, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus N, Denmark

    T B Henriksen

  4. Primary Health Care Clinic, Nuuk, Greenland

    H S Pedersen

  5. Department of Toxicology and Risk Assessment, National Institute of Public Health-National Institute of Hygiene, Warsaw, Poland

    K Góralczyk

  6. Department of Social Medicine and Organization of Public Health, Kharkiv National Medical University, Kharkiv, Ukraine

    V Zviezdai

  7. Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Lund University, Lund, Sweden

    B A G Jönsson

  8. Division of Environmental Epidemiology, Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences (IRAS), Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    D Heederik, V Lenters & R Vermeulen

  9. Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen NV, Denmark

    J P Bonde

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  1. B B Høyer
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Correspondence to B B Høyer.

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Høyer, B., Ramlau-Hansen, C., Henriksen, T. et al. Body mass index in young school-age children in relation to organochlorine compounds in early life: a prospective study. Int J Obes 38, 919–925 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/ijo.2014.58

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