Peer-reviewed article
Joint Associations of Prenatal Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances and Metal Mixtures with Adiposity in Childhood and Adolescence.
Hernandez-Castro I, Rifas-Shiman SL, Smith A, Lin PD, Fleisch A et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined how prenatal exposure to environmental chemicals—specifically per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and metals—affects children's weight and body fat in childhood and adolescence. Using data from 845 children in the Project Viva cohort, researchers found that higher prenatal exposure to PFAS and nonessential metals was associated with higher body mass index and fat mass in mid-childhood and early adolescence, but not in late adolescence. Lower prenatal exposure to essential metals was linked to higher fat mass in early and late adolescence.
Key points
- Higher prenatal PFAS and nonessential metal mixture levels were significantly associated with higher BMI z-scores in mid-childhood (0.17) and early adolescence (0.14)
- Higher prenatal PFAS and nonessential metal mixture levels were associated with greater DXA total fat mass in mid-childhood (0.17 kg/m²) and early adolescence (0.20 kg/m²)
- These associations were not found in late adolescence
- Lower levels of prenatal essential metal mixture were associated with higher DXA total fat mass in early and late adolescence
- The study emphasizes the importance of evaluating concurrent prenatal exposures across multiple chemical classes when assessing environmental influences on child adiposity
Limitations
The study is observational and cannot establish causation. The findings do not explain the mechanisms by which these chemical exposures affect childhood adiposity, and results may not be generalizable beyond the Project Viva cohort population.
Abstract
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and metals are ubiquitous environmental contaminants that have been individually linked to childhood adiposity, but their combined effects remain understudied. In the Project Viva cohort (n = 845), we evaluated joint associations of six first-trimester PFAS in plasma and five essential and six nonessential metals in erythrocytes with child and adolescent body mass index (BMI) z-scores and dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) total and truncal fat mass indices. We used Bayesian kernel machine regression to evaluate joint associations of PFAS and metals with adiposity. Higher prenatal PFAS and nonessential metal mixture levels were significantly associated with higher mid-childhood and early adolescent BMI z-scores (75th vs 50th percentile: 0.17 [95% Credible Interval (CrI): 0.06, 0.28]; 0.14 [95% CrI: 0.02, 0.25]) and DXA total fat mass (0.17 kg/m2 [0.05, 0.30]; 0.20 kg/m2 [0.07, 0.32]), but not adiposity in late adolescence. Children with lower levels of the prenatal essential metal mixture had higher early and late adolescent DXA total fat mass (25th vs 50th percentile: 0.13 [0.04, 0.22]; 0.08 [0.01, 0.16]). Our findings underscore the importance of considering concurrent prenatal exposures across multiple chemical classes when evaluating environmental influences on child adiposity.