Peer-reviewed article
Associations of prenatal exposure to organophosphate flame retardants and organophosphorus pesticides with cardiac structure in 4-year-old children: Evidence from the Shanghai Birth Cohort.
Meng Wang, Xi Zhang, Hualin Wang, Bowen Du, Xiaowen Wang et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined whether prenatal exposure to organophosphate flame retardants and pesticides affects heart development in young children. Researchers measured chemicals in the urine of 458 pregnant women in Shanghai during early pregnancy and then measured their children's heart structure at age 4 using ultrasound. Children whose mothers had higher exposure to certain chemicals showed smaller heart chambers and lower heart mass, with stronger effects seen in girls.
Key points
- Higher maternal Di-o-cresyl-phosphate (DoCP) in both first and second trimesters was associated with lower left ventricular volume and mass z-scores in 4-year-old children
- Higher maternal Di-phenyl phosphate (DPHP) in the second trimester was negatively correlated with left ventricular volume and mass
- Mixture analyses showed an inverted J-shape association between combined maternal exposure to these chemicals and offspring heart measurements
- Sex-stratified analyses found stronger associations among girls compared to boys
- Organophosphate flame retardants emerged as the main contributors to the observed effects
Limitations
The study is observational and cannot establish causation, only associations. The findings are specific to the Shanghai population and may not generalise to other settings or ethnic groups.
Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Organophosphate flame retardants (OPFRs) and organophosphorus pesticides (OPPs) are widely used chemicals in daily environments. Yet, evidence linking prenatal exposure to them with cardiac structure development in offspring is scarce. METHODS: Maternal urinary levels of OPFR and OPP metabolites were measured during the first and second trimesters. Left ventricular end-diastolic volume (LVEDV) and mass (LVM) were assessed by echocardiography in 4-year-old children. Multivariable linear regression and Bayesian kernel machine regression were used to evaluate individual and mixture effects, with sex-stratified and interaction analyses performed to assess potential modification. RESULTS: Among 458 mother-child pairs from the Shanghai Birth Cohort, higher maternal urinary Di-o-cresyl-phosphate (DoCP) concentrations during both trimesters were associated with lower z-scores of LVEDV (β: -0.049, 95% CI: -0.089, -0.008; and β: -0.055, 95% CI: -0.089, -0.022, respectively) and LVM (β: -0.057, 95% CI: -0.098, -0.015; and β: -0.053, 95% CI: -0.087, -0.019, respectively) in 4-year-old offspring. Similarly, higher maternal Di-phenyl phosphate (DPHP) concentration in the second trimester negatively correlated with z-scores of LVEDV (β: -0.043, 95% CI: -0.085, -0.002) and LVM (β: -0.080, 95% CI: -0.122, -0.038). Mixture analyses revealed inverted J-shape associations between maternal mixed OPFRs/OPPs exposure and offspring LVEDV and LVM. Sex-stratified analyses suggested stronger associations among girls. CONCLUSIONS: Prenatal exposure to OPFRs and OPPs was associated with smaller left ventricular structural measures in early childhood, mainly reflected by lower left ventricular volume and mass, with OPFRs emerging as main contributors and stronger associations among girls.
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- Measurement of maternal urinary OPFR and OPP metabolite levels during pregnancy to assess exposure
- Population
- 458 mother-child pairs from the Shanghai Birth Cohort, with children assessed at 4 years of age
Key finding
DoCP exposure in first trimester: β -0.049 (95% CI: -0.089, -0.008) for LVEDV z-score and β -0.057 (95% CI: -0.098, -0.015) for LVM z-score
Wang et al. · PubMed (US National Library of Medicine) · 6 Aug 2026