Abstract
Evidence from animal experiments suggests that exposure to bisphenols during early life may lead to impaired eye development and visual functions. However, population-based study on the association remains very limited. To investigate the relationships between prenatal bisphenols exposure and visual impairment in preschool children. A total of 744 mother-infant pairs were extracted from the Guangxi Zhuang Birth Cohort in China. Maternal serum bisphenol A (BPA) and its alternatives were measured using ultra-high liquid performance chromatography-tandem mass spectrometer. Visual acuity in preschool children were followed up in the local maternal and child health information management system. The associations of prenatal exposure to bisphenols (BPs) with visual acuity were analyzed by multivariate linear regression models. Logistic regression model, Bayesian Kernel machine regression (BKMR), and quantile g-computation (Qgcomp) models were applied to examine the single and mixture effects of prenatal exposure to the five BPs on risk of visual impairment (VI).In logistic regression models, the moderate-level BPA-exposed group (OR = 0.474, 95% CI 0.211, 1.065) and high-level TBBPA-exposed group (OR = 0.451, 95% CI 0.184, 1.109) had a lower risk of VI than the low-level exposed group, both approaching a level of significance (P = 0.071 and P = 0.083, respectively). When stratified analysis by child sex, the significant associations of moderate-level BPA exposure and VI risk were only found among boys (adjusted OR = 0.230, 95% CI 0.061, 0.873, P = 0.031). And a suggestive negative association of high-level TBBPA exposure and VI risk was only found among girls (adjusted OR = 0.330, 95% CI 0.091, 1.193, P = 0.091). Further analysis using BKMR and g-computation models showed that mixed effects of the five BPs were also associated with decreased risk of VI, with effects-driven primarily by BPA and TBBPA for boys and girls, respectively. Findings from this study do not support the hypothesis that prenatal BPs exposure is associated with increased risk of VI. Further epidemiological studies remain warranted when confirming their associations.
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Data Availability
The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are not publicly available due tolimited authorizations from the authors but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
This study is the result of the joint efforts of many people and institutions. We acknowledge the participants for their support and the study staff for their contributions in the study. We are very grateful to the following institutions for their strong support and cooperation: Tiandong People’s Hospital, Tiandong Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital, **gxi People’s Hospital, **gxi Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital, **guo People’s Hospital, **guo Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital, Debao People’s Hospital, Debao Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital, Longan People’s Hospital, Wuming People’s Hospital, Wuming Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital, and Guangxi Medical University Clinical Epidemiology Research Center for Multifactorial Diseases.
Funding
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 82160623), and Guangxi Key Research Program (grant number AB17195012).
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JL: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Methodology, Writing—original draft, Writing—review & editing. JL: Data curation, Investigation, Methodology. XL: Data curation, Investigation, Methodology. Peng Tang: Data curation, Investigation, Methodology. LL: Data curation, Investigation. CM: Data curation, Investigation. LW: Writing—review & editing. DH: Project administration, Methodology, Supervision. XQ: Data curation, Methodology, Supervision. XZ: Project administration, Resources, Supervision. SL: Funding acquisition, Project administration, Resources, Supervision, Writing –review & editing.
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Li, J., Mo, C., Liang, J. et al. Prenatal Exposure to Bisphenols and Visual Impairment in Preschool Children: A Prospective Birth Cohort Study in China. Expo Health (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12403-023-00619-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12403-023-00619-z