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Seasonal variation in urinary PAH metabolite levels and associations with neonatal birth outcomes

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Abstract

Previous studies have demonstrated that exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) can affect maternal and infant health. However, the conclusions regarding the effects of seasonal PAH exposure on maternal and infant health have been inconsistent. To further elucidate this issue, this study included data from 2282 mother-infant pairs in the Zuni birth cohort. The objective was to investigate the association between maternal late-pregnancy urinary PAH metabolite concentrations and neonatal birth outcomes during the heating and non-heating seasons. The results demonstrated that PAH exposure in Zunyi was primarily dominated by 2-OHNAP and 1-OHNAP and that the concentrations of PAH metabolites were significantly higher during the heating season. Furthermore, PAH metabolite exposure was found to affect neonatal birth weight, birth length, and parity index with seasonal differences. Further dose-effect analyses revealed nonlinear relationships and seasonal differences between PAH metabolites and neonatal birth weight, birth length, and parity index. Bayesian kernel mechanism regression modeling demonstrated that the inverted U-shaped relationship between PAH metabolites and neonatal birth weight and parity index was exclusive to the heating season. Consequently, it can be posited that maternal exposure to PAH metabolites during late pregnancy exerts a detrimental influence on neonatal growth and development, which is further compounded by the use of heating fuels. This highlights the necessity to either control or alter the use of heating fuels during pregnancy.

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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), Science & Technology Program of Guizhou Province (QKHPTRC-GCC [2022]039-1), and Science & Technology Program of Guizhou Province (QKHPTRC-CXTD [2022]014), Natural Science Foundation of Guizhou Province (QKH-J[2022] YB614. Science and Technology Plan Project of Zunyi City, (ZKH-J(2021)294 .

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Authors and Affiliations

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

    Lin Tao, Yuan-zhong Zhou & Xubo Shen

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

    Lin Tao, Yuan-zhong Zhou & Xubo Shen

Authors
  1. Lin Tao
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  2. Yuan-zhong Zhou
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  3. Xubo Shen
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Contributions

Tao Lin: conceptualization, methodology, software, validation, formal analysis, investigation, and data curation; writing—original draft; writing—review and editing; visualization; and funding acquisition. Yuan-zhong Zhou: conceptualization, validation, funding acquisition, and resources. Xubo Shen: methodology, software, funding acquisition, and resources.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xubo Shen.

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Ethics approval

This study was ethically reviewed by the Affiliated Hospital of Zunyi Medical University (Batch No.: KLL-2019–006).

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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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The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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Responsible Editor: Ludek Blaha

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Tao, L., Zhou, Yz. & Shen, X. Seasonal variation in urinary PAH metabolite levels and associations with neonatal birth outcomes. Environ Sci Pollut Res 31, 41893–41904 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-024-33888-5

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