| Prenatal Exposure to Perfluorooctanoate (PFOA) and Perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS) and Maternally Reported Developmental Milestones in Infancy Chunyuan Fei,1 Joseph K. McLaughlin,2,3 Loren Lipworth,2,3 and Jørn Olsen1,4 1Department of Epidemiology, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA; 2International Epidemiology Institute, Rockville, Maryland, USA; 3Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Nashville, Tennessee, USA; 4Institute of Public Health, University of Aarhus, Aarhus, Denmark Abstract
Background: Perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoate (PFOA) are fluorinated organic compounds present in the general population at low concentrations. Animal studies have shown that they may affect neuromuscular development at high concentrations. Objectives: We investigated the association between plasma levels of PFOS and PFOA in pregnant women and motor and mental developmental milestones of their children. Methods: We randomly selected 1,400 pairs of pregnant women and their children from the Danish National Birth Cohort. PFOS and PFOA were measured in maternal blood samples taken in early pregnancy. Apgar score was abstracted from the National Hospital Discharge Register in Denmark. Developmental milestones were reported by mothers using highly structured questionnaires when the children were around 6 months and 18 months of age. Results: Mothers who had higher levels of PFOA and PFOS gave birth to children who had similar Apgar scores and reached virtually all of the development milestones at the same time as children born to mothers with lower exposure levels. Children who were born to mothers with higher PFOS levels were slightly more likely to start sitting without support at a later age. Conclusion: We found no convincing associations between developmental milestones in early childhood and levels of PFOA or PFOS as measured in maternal plasma early in pregnancy. Key words: maternal blood, mental developmental milestones, motor developmental milestones, PFOA, PFOS. Environ Health Perspect 116:1391–1395 (2008) . doi:10.1289/ehp.11277 available via http://dx.doi.org/ [Online 4 June 2008]
Address correspondence to C. Fei, Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, UCLA, Box 951772, 650 Charles E. Young Dr. South, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1772 USA. Telephone: (310) 825-5373. Fax: (310) 206-6039. E-mail: cfei@ucla.edu We appreciate the work of D. Ehresman and his team members in the analysis of PFOS/PFOA in plasma, and the valuable statistical advice of R. Tarone at International Epidemiology Institute. The Danish National Research Foundation established the Danish Epidemiology Science Centre, which initiated and created the Danish National Birth Cohort. This study was supported by the International Epidemiology Institute, which received funding from the 3M Company. The 3M Toxicology Laboratory performed all laboratory analyses. The cohort study received a major grant from this foundation. Additional support for the Danish National Birth Cohort is obtained from the Pharmacy Foundation, the Egmont Foundation, the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation, the Augustinus Foundation, and the Health Foundation. J.K.M. and L.L. are employed by the International Epidemiology Institute, which has received funding from 3M. The other authors declare they have no competing financial interests. Received 16 January 2008 ; accepted 3 June 2008.
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