Pre-pregnancy maternal exposure to polybrominated and polychlorinated biphenyls and gestational diabetes: a prospective cohort study

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Lindsay M. Jaacks, Emory University; Dana Barr, Emory University; Rajeshwari Sundaram, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development; José M. Maisog, Glotech, Inc; Cuilin Zhang, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development; Germaine M. Buck Louis, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
• Language: English
• Date: 2016-01-20
• Publisher: BioMed Central
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © 2016 Jaacks et al. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://​creativecommons.​org/​publicdomain/​zero/​1.​0/​) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
• License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12940-016-0092-5
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Environmental Health
• ISSN: 1476-069X
• Volume: 15
• Issue: 1
• Start Page: 11
• End Page: 11
• Grant/Funding Information: The LIFE Study was supported by the Intramural Research Program of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (contracts #N01-HD-3-3355; N01-HD-3-3356; N01-HD-3-3358).; DBB is partially supported by the Emory Health and Exposome Research Center: Understanding Lifetime Exposures (HERCULES), funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (P30 ES019776).; LMJ is supported by the Rollins School of Public Health Hubert Chair Fund.
• Keywords: Persistent organic pollutants; METABOLIC SYNDROME; Public, Environmental & Occupational Health; Lipids; HEALTH-RISKS; Diabetes; Pregnancy; SERUM-LIPIDS; CIRCULATING LEVELS; OBESITY; MELLITUS; Science & Technology; PERSISTENT ORGANIC POLLUTANTS; SUBCUTANEOUS ADIPOSE-TISSUE; Environmental Sciences; Environmental Sciences & Ecology; POPULATION; INSULIN-RESISTANCE; Life Sciences & Biomedicine
• Research Categories: Health Sciences, Public Health; Health Sciences, Obstetrics and Gynecology; Environmental Sciences

Abstract

Background: While several studies have shown an association between environmental pollutants and diabetes among non-pregnant adults, few studies have prospectively assessed the association among pregnant women. We estimated the association between maternal pre-pregnancy levels of a polybrominated biphenyl (PBB 153) and 36 polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) with gestational diabetes (GDM). Methods: Data are from women (18-40 years) participating in a prospective cohort who achieved pregnancy lasting ≥24 weeks gestation and completed monthly pregnancy journals (n = 258). Women were recruited between 2005 and 2007 from 16 counties in Michigan and Texas. Women who ever reported a physician diagnosis of high blood glucose in monthly pregnancy journals were categorized as having gestational diabetes (n = 28; 10.9 %). Multivariable binary logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios (OR) and 95 % confidence intervals (CIs). Results: There was no association between PBB 153 and GDM or any of the PCB congeners and GDM in unadjusted models. All associations remained non-significant with stepwise adjustment for age and waist-to-height ratio. Only with further adjustment for total serum lipids did the associations become significant, with lower levels of nine PCB congeners associated with GDM: 138, 153, 156, 167, 170, 172, 178, 180, and 194. The adjusted ORs for PCBs 170 and 180 were the strongest: 0.40 (0.18, 0.88) and 0.41 (0.19, 0.87), respectively. Conclusions: Pre-pregnancy levels of PCBs were not consistently associated with development of GDM in this prospective cohort of U.S. women. Interestingly, we found that although women with GDM had higher mean pre-pregnancy circulating lipid levels compared to women without GDM, they had lower wet weight circulating levels of many PCBs. More research is needed to understand the dynamic fluctuations of PCBs and other persistent organic pollutants between lipid compartments in women preparing to conceive and throughout pregnancy.