Prenatal, Postnatal Exposures Tied to Blood Pressure in Children

Prenatal and postnatal exposure to chemicals, environment, and meteorological factors may impact blood pressure (BP) in children, according to a study published in the issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Charline Warembourg, Ph.D., from ISGlobal in Barcelona, Spain, and colleagues examined the correlation between prenatal and postnatal exposures and BP in 1,277 children aged 6 to 11 years. Exposures included air pollution, built environment, meteorology, natural spaces, traffic, noise, chemicals, and lifestyles.

The researchers identified decreases in systolic BP with facility density, maternal concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyl 118 and child concentrations of dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (DDE), hexachlorobenzene, and mono-benzyl phthalate (β change for an interquartile-range increase in exposure: −1.7 [95 percent confidence interval, −2.5 to −0.8], −1.4 [−2.6 to −0.2], −1.6 [−2.4 to −0.7], −1.5 [−2.4 to −0.6], and −0.7 [−1.3 to −0.1] mm Hg, respectively). Outdoor temperature during pregnancy, high fish intake during pregnancy, maternal cotinine concentrations, and child perfluorooctanoate concentrations were associated with increases in systolic BP (1.6 [0.2 to 2.9], 2.0 [0.4 to 3.5], 1.2 [−0.3 to 2.8], and 0.9 [0.1 to 1.6] mm Hg, respectively). There was a decrease in diastolic BP with outdoor temperature at examination and child DDE concentrations (−1.4 [−2.3 to −0.5] and −1.1 [−1.9 to −0.3] mm Hg, respectively); maternal bisphenol-A concentrations, high fish intake during pregnancy, and child copper concentrations were associated with increases in diastolic BP (0.7 [0.1 to 1.4], 1.2 [−0.2 to 2.7], and 0.9 [0.3 to 1.6] mm Hg, respectively).

"The clinical impact of the associations reported remains to be evaluated, but the unique strength of the longitudinal cohorts should be fostered to implement follow-ups that allow the investigation of long-term health implications," the authors write.

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