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Prenatal environmental exposures and associations with teen births

Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology volume 31, pages 197–210 (2021)Cite this article

Abstract

Background

Children’s prenatal exposure to multiple environmental chemicals may contribute to subsequent deficits in impulse control, predisposing them to risk-taking.

Objective

Our goal was to investigate associations between prenatal exposure mixtures and risk of teen birth, a manifestation of high-risk sexual activity, among 5865 girls (1st generation) born in southeast Massachusetts from 1992–1998.

Methods

Exposures included prenatal modeled polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), ρ,ρ′-dichlorodiphenyl dichloroethylene (DDE), hexachlorobenzene (HCB), lead (Pb), and mercury (Hg). We fit adjusted generalized additive models with multivariable smooths of exposure mixtures, 1st generation infant’s birth year, and maternal age at 1st generation birth. Predicted odds ratios (ORs) for teen birth were mapped as a function of joint exposures. We also conducted sensitivity analyses among 1st generation girls with measured exposure biomarkers (n = 371).

Results

The highest teen birth risk was associated with a mixture of high prenatal HCB, Hg, Pb, and PCB, but low DDE exposure, with similar associations in sensitivity analyses. The highest OR predicted for girls born in 1995 to mothers of median age (26 years) was at the 95th percentile of the HCB and PCB exposure distributions (OR = 3.09; 95% confidence interval: 0.29, 32.4). Additionally, girls born earlier in the study period or to teen mothers were at increased risk of teen birth.

Significance

Prenatal environmental chemical exposures and sociodemographic characteristics may interact to substantially increase risk of teen births.

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Fig. 1: Association between teen birth and prenatal exposure to a mixture of HCB, Hg, Pb, ΣPCB4, and DDE, as well as maternal age at birth and infant year of birth in Massachusetts Birth Record Cohort (MBRC) female births from 1992–1998 (N = 5865).
Fig. 2: Associations between teen birth and mixtures of measured biomarkers of prenatal exposures among females in the New Bedford Cohort (NBC) study, born 1993–1998 (N = 371).

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by grants P42 ES007381, P42 ES005947, and R01 ES014864 from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health. We express appreciation for participants in the New Bedford Cohort Study.

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Susan A. Korrick and Veronica M. Vieira

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Program in Public Health, College of Health Sciences, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

    Nicole V. DeVille & Verónica M. Vieira

  2. Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA

    Nicole V. DeVille

  3. Channing Division of Network Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Nicole V. DeVille & Susan A. Korrick

  4. Program in Environmental Health Sciences, College of Health Sciences, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

    Roxana Khalili

  5. Department of Environmental Health, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA

    Jonathan I. Levy

  6. Department of Environmental Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA

    Susan A. Korrick

  7. Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

    Verónica M. Vieira

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  1. Nicole V. DeVille
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Correspondence to Nicole V. DeVille.

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DeVille, N.V., Khalili, R., Levy, J.I. et al. Prenatal environmental exposures and associations with teen births. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol 31, 197–210 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41370-020-00262-9

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