In utero exposure to atrazine analytes and early menarche in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children Cohort

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Gonza Namulanda, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Ethel Taylor, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Mildred Maisonet, Emory University; Dana Boyd Barr, Emory University; W Dana Flanders, Emory University; David Olson, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Judith R. Qualters, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; John Vena, Medical University of South Carolina; Kate Northstone, University of Bristol; Luke Naeher, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• Language: English
• Date: 2017-07-01
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Publication Version: Author Accepted Manuscript (After Peer Review)
• Copyright Statement: © 2017 Elsevier Inc.
• License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2017.04.004
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Environmental Research
• ISSN: 0013-9351
• Volume: 156
• Start Page: 420
• End Page: 425
• Grant/Funding Information: The UK Medical Research Council and the Wellcome Trust (Grant ref: 102215/2/13/2) and the University of Bristol provide core support for ALSPAC.; KN is supported by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care West (CLAHRC West) at University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust.; This work was specifically funded by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
• Keywords: Menarche; Puberty; Endocrine disrupting compounds; METABOLITES; FEMALE WISTAR RATS; Life Sciences & Biomedicine; PUBERTAL DEVELOPMENT; Science & Technology; Atrazine; CONTEMPORARY BRITISH COHORT; ALSPAC; AGE; PREGNANCY; PESTICIDES; Public, Environmental & Occupational Health; GIRLS; MASS-SPECTROMETRY; Environmental Sciences; Environmental Sciences & Ecology; DRINKING-WATER
• Research Categories: Health Sciences, Public Health; Environmental Sciences

Abstract

Background: Evidence from experimental studies suggests that atrazine and its analytes alter the timing of puberty in laboratory animals. Such associations have not been investigated in humans. Objective To determine the association between in utero exposure to atrazine analytes and earlier menarche attainment in a nested case-control study of the population-based Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. Methods Cases were girls who reported menarche before 11.5 years while controls were girls who reported menarche at or after 11.5 years. Seven atrazine analyte concentrations were measured in maternal gestational urine samples (sample gestation week median (IQR): 12 (8–17)) during the period 1991–1992, for 174 cases and 195 controls using high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. We evaluated the study association using multivariate logistic regression, adjusting for potential confounders. We used multiple imputation to impute missing confounder data for 29% of the study participants. Results Diaminochlorotriazine (DACT) was the most frequently detected analyte (58%>limit of detection [LOD]) followed by desethyl atrazine (6%), desethyl atrazine mercapturate (3%), atrazine mercapturate (1%), hydroxyl atrazine (1%), atrazine (1%) and desisopropyl atrazine (0.5%). Because of low detection of other analytes, only DACT was included in the exposure–outcome analyses. The adjusted odds of early menarche for girls with DACT exposures≥median was 1.13 (95% Confidence Interval [95% CI]:0.82, 1.55) and exposure<median was 1.01 (95% CI: 0.73, 1.42) compared to girls with exposure<LOD (reference). In the subset that excluded girls with missing data, the adjusted odds of early menarche for girls with DACT exposures≥median was 1.86 (95% CI: 1.03, 3.38) and exposure<median was 1.26 (95% CI: 0.65, 2.24) compared to the reference. Conclusions This study is the first to examine the association between timing of menarche and atrazine analytes. We found a weak, non-significant association between in-utero exposure to atrazine metabolite DACT and early menarche, though the association was significant in the subset of girls with complete confounder information. Further exploration of the role of these exposures in female reproduction in other cohorts is needed.