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Prenatal cadmium exposure and preterm low birth weight in China

Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology volume 27, pages 491–496 (2017)Cite this article

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Abstract

Early studies have investigated the effect of prenatal cadmium (Cd) exposure on birth outcomes, such as preterm birth and low birth weight, although the results of these studies are inconsistent. The aim of the present study was to investigate the association between prenatal exposure to Cd and the risk of preterm low birth weight (PLBW). A total of 408 mother–infant pairs (102 PLBW cases and 306 pair matched controls) were selected from the participants enrolled in the Healthy Baby Cohort (HBC) study between 2012 and 2014 in Hubei province, China. Concentrations of Cd in maternal urine collected before delivery were measured by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and adjusted by creatinine. A significant association was observed between higher maternal urinary Cd levels and risk of PLBW (adjusted odds ratio (OR)=1.75 for the medium tertile, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.88, 3.47; adjusted OR=2.51 for the highest tertile, 95% CI: 1.24, 5.07; P trend=0.03). The association was more pronounced among female infants than male infants. Our study suggested that prenatal exposure to Cd at the current level encountered in China may potentially increase the risk of delivering PLBW infants, particularly for female infants.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program) (2012CB722401), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21437002, 81030051, 81372959, 81402649) and the R&D Special Fund for Public Welfare Industry (Environment) (201309048). Also, this work was partly supported by Fogarty training grants D43TW 008323 and D43TW 007864-01 from the US National Institutes of Health.

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  1. Kai Huang and Han Li: These authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Environment and Health, Ministry of Education & Ministry of Environmental Protection (HUST) and State Key Laboratory of Environmental Health (Incubation), School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, People’s Republic of China

    Kai Huang, Han Li, Yuanyuan Li, Xiaofu Du, Xinyun Pan, Jie Yang, Chuansha Wu, Minmin Jiang, Yang Peng, Zheng Huang, Wei Xia & Shunqing Xu

  2. Wuhan Medical and Health Center for Women and Children, Wuhan, People’s Republic of China

    Bin Zhang & Aifen Zhou

  3. Department of Epidemiology, Brown Universtiy, Providence, 02903, Rhode Island, USA

    Tongzhang Zheng

  4. Zhejiang Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Zhejiang, People’s Republic of China

    Xiaofu Du

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Correspondence to Wei Xia or Shunqing Xu.

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Huang, K., Li, H., Zhang, B. et al. Prenatal cadmium exposure and preterm low birth weight in China. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol 27, 491–496 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/jes.2016.41

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