Associations between prenatal exposure to phthalates and timing of menarche and growth and adiposity into adulthood: A twenty-years birth cohort study

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  • Ye’Elah E. Berman
  • Dorota A. Doherty
  • Main, Katharina Maria
  • Hanne Frederiksen
  • Martha Hickey
  • Jeffrey A. Keelan
  • John P. Newnham
  • Roger J. Hart

Phthalates are ubiquitous environmental chemicals with endocrine disrupting properties and potentially obesogenic effects. We hypothesised that antenatal phthalate exposure may influence growth and adiposity patterns in girls through childhood into adolescence. Among 1342 Raine Study singleton females, 462 had maternal serum and at least one outcome available up to 20 years of age. Individuals’ maternal serum collected at 18 and 34 weeks gestation was pooled and analyzed for concentrations of 32 metabolites of 15 phthalate diesters. Cox regression and linear models were used to determine associations between maternal phthalate levels and age at menarche, change in height and weight z-scores between birth and two years, height from birth to 20 years, BMI from two to 20 years, deviation from mid-parental height at age 20 and DEXA scan measures at age 20. Weak negative associations were detected with some phthalate metabolites and change in height and weight z-score during infancy. Weak positive associations between some of the high molecular weight phthalate metabolites and height z-score were detected during childhood. While still within the normal range, age at menarche was slightly delayed in girls with higher prenatal exposure to the higher molecular weight phthalate metabolites. We derived some associations between prenatal phthalate exposure with early growth patterns and age at menarche.

Original languageEnglish
Article number4725
JournalInternational Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Volume18
Issue number9
Number of pages20
ISSN1661-7827
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 May 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Funding: The collection of maternal data and samples was funded by NH&MRC, The Raine Medical Research Foundation and The Women and Infants Research Foundation (WIRF) while the collection of adolescent data and samples was funded by NHMRC project grant number 634457 and by a UWA Ada Bartholomew grant. The Danish research team was supported by a grant from The Danish Agency for Science, Technology and Innovation (09-067180) and the Velux Foundation. The Australian group was supported by a NHMRC project grant (no 403968) and received support from the Raine Medical Research Foundation, The Telethon Kids Institute, The University of Western Australia, Women and Infant Research Foundation, Curtin University and Edith Cowan University and EDMaRC (www.edmarc.net). The APC was funded by Roger Hart.

Funding Information:
Acknowledgments: We would like to acknowledge the Raine Study participants and their families for their ongoing participation in the study and the Raine Study team for study coordination and data collection. We also thank the NHMRC for their long-term contribution to funding the study over the last 30 years. The core management of the Raine Study is funded by The University of Western Australia, Curtin University, Telethon Kids Institute, Women and Infants Research Foundation (WIRF), Edith Cowan University, Murdoch University, The University of Notre Dame Australia and the Raine Medical Research Foundation. We acknowledge the in-kind support provided by The University of Western Australia, School of Women’s and Infants’ Health, King Edward Memorial Hospital, The University of Western Australia, Medical School, Royal Perth Hospital and Telethon Kids Institute for biosample storage and curation. We acknowledge the NHMRC and WIRF for use of maternal blood samples during pregnancy, and the NHMRC and the Raine Medical Research Foundation for the Gen 1, and Gen 2-1, 2, 3, 5, 8 and 10 year follow-ups. We acknowledge the NHMRC (Sly et al., ID 211912), NHMRC Program Grant (Stanley et al., ID 003209) and The Raine Medical Research Foundation for the Gen 2–14 years follow-up and NHMRC (Hickey et al., 403968) for the menstruation data. We acknowledge NHMRC Program Grant (Stanley et al., ID 353514) for the Gen 2–17 years follow-up and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research-CIHR (Lye et al., MOP-82893) for the Gen 2–20 years follow up and DXA scan data. M Hickey is supported by an NHMRC Practitioner Fellowship.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

    Research areas

  • Adiposity, Age at menarche, Antenatal exposure, Girls, Growth, Phthalate metabolites

ID: 282529254