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Effects of Prenatal Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Exposure on Neonatal Outcomes—MLR and BKMR Models

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Abstract

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are ubiquitous environmental pollutants that pose a potentially serious threat to maternal and infant health, yet there are few studies on low-dose maternal and infant health. Therefore, this study investigated 2566 mother–infant pairs in Zunyi rural area, southwest China, and used multiple linear regression (MLR) and Bayesian kernel machine regression (BKMR) to reveal the relationship between pre-pregnancy PAHs exposures and neonatal birth outcomes. The results showed that more than 75% of the PAHs metabolite concentrations were above the limit of detection, and the main exposure was to 2-OHNAP (2. 9379 µg/L).The results of the MLR showed that, in both the original and adjusted models, 9-OHFLU and 4-OHPH were associated with lower birth weight, corresponding to β (95% CI) of − 36.684 (− 7.580, − 65.788), − 76.931 (− 22.524, − 131. 338), − 33.254 (− 4.628, − 61.879) and − 65.490 (− 12.073, − 118.906) (95%). 9-OHFLU was associated with loss of birth length, corresponding to β (95% CI) of − 0.094 (− 0.013, − 0.176) and − 0.084 (− 0.003, − 0.164). 9-OHFLU and 4-OHPH were associated with decreased neonatal BMI, corresponding to β (95%) CI) of − 0.104 (− 0.006, − 0.202) and − 0.323 (− 0.139, − 0.507), respectively. The results of the BKMR model showed that in the original model, 1-OHNAP, 1-OHPYR and total PAHs were negatively correlated with birth weight, with the corresponding PIP value of 0.0008, and that, after adjusting the model, total PAHs and 2-0HPH were negatively correlated with birth weight and birth BMI, corresponding to PIP values of 0.0232 and 0.0316, and total PAHs levels were negatively correlated with birth length. In conclusion, exposure of pregnant women to PAHs during pregnancy can have a negative impact on the birth outcomes of their newborns. Therefore, it is recommended that pregnant women with potentially adverse pregnancy outcomes, especially those suffering from gestational malnutrition, pre-eclampsia, or who are substance abusers, should reduce or avoid exposure to PAHs.

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Data Availability

Data associated with the present study can be accessed on request to the author (2921496832@qq.com).

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Acknowledgements

We appreciate all investigators, participants and others who were involved in the study. Additionally, the authors would like to thank the team of **aomin Zhang, School of Public Health, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, for their support of the urine organic matter detection method.

Funding

The research was funded by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2018YFC1004300, 2018YFC1004302), Science & Technology Program of Guizhou Province (QKHHBZ [2020]3002, QKHPTRC-GCC [2022]039-1, QKHPTRC-CXTD [2022]014), Natural Science Foundation of Guizhou Province (QKH-J [2022] YB614), Zunyi Medical University Postgraduate Research Fund Project (ZYK199) and Zunyi Medical University Postgraduate Research Fund Project (ZYK198).

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Author notes

  1. Lulu Dai

    Present address: Key Laboratory of Maternal & Child Health and Exposure Science of Guizhou Higher Education Institutes, Zunyi Medical University, Zunyi, 563000, Guizhou, China

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Public Health, Zunyi Medical University, Zunyi, 563000, Guizhou, China

    Lin Tao, Shimin **ong, Dengqing Liao, Yuan-zhong Zhou & Xubo Shen

  2. Key Laboratory of Maternal & Child Health and Exposure Science of Guizhou Higher Education Institutes, Zunyi Medical University, Zunyi, 563000, Guizhou, China

    Lin Tao, Shimin **ong, Dengqing Liao, Yuan-zhong Zhou & Xubo Shen

  3. Laboratory of Microbiology and Immunology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Zunyi Medical University, No.6 Xuefu **lu, Zunyi, 563006, People’s Republic of China

    Lulu Dai

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  1. Lin Tao
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Contributions

TL: conceptualization, methodology, software, validation, formal analysis, investigation, data curation, writing—original draft, writing—review & editing and visualization, SX: conceptualization, methodology and software. LD: methodology and software. DL: conceptualization, validation and investigation. YZ: conceptualization, validation, funding acquisition and resources. XS: methodology, funding acquisition and software.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Yuan-zhong Zhou or Xubo Shen.

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Competing Interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Ethical Approval

This study was ethically reviewed by the Ethics Committee of Zunyi Medical University (No. [2019] H-005).

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All participants agreed to participate in this study and signed the informed consent.

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The authors declare that this manuscript does not contain any individual person’s data and material in any form.

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Tao, L., **ong, S., Dai, L. et al. Effects of Prenatal Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Exposure on Neonatal Outcomes—MLR and BKMR Models. Expo Health (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12403-024-00632-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12403-024-00632-w

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