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. 2012 Jun;120(6):916-20.
doi: 10.1289/ehp.1104175. Epub 2012 Feb 14.

Prenatal exposure to bisphenol A and child wheeze from birth to 3 years of age

Adam J Spanier  1 , Robert S Kahn, Allen R Kunselman, Richard Hornung, Yingying Xu, Antonia M Calafat, Bruce P Lanphear
Affiliations

Prenatal exposure to bisphenol A and child wheeze from birth to 3 years of age

Adam J Spanier et al. Environ Health Perspect. 2012 Jun.

Abstract

Background: Bisphenol A (BPA), an endocrine-disrupting chemical that is routinely detected in > 90% of Americans, promotes experimental asthma in mice. The association of prenatal BPA exposure and wheeze has not been evaluated in humans.

Objective: We examined the relationship between prenatal BPA exposure and wheeze in early childhood.

Methods: We measured BPA concentrations in serial maternal urine samples from a prospective birth cohort of 398 mother-infant pairs and assessed parent-reported child wheeze every 6 months for 3 years. We used generalized estimating equations with a logit link to evaluate the association of prenatal urinary BPA concentration with the dichotomous outcome wheeze (wheeze over the previous 6 months).

Results: Data were available for 365 children; BPA was detected in 99% of maternal urine samples during pregnancy. In multivariable analysis, a one-unit increase in log-transformed creatinine-standardized mean prenatal urinary BPA concentration was not significantly associated with child wheeze from birth to 3 years of age, but there was an interaction of BPA concentration with time (p = 0.003). Mean prenatal BPA above versus below the median was positively associated with wheeze at 6 months of age [adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 2.3; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.3, 4.1] but not at 3 years (AOR = 0.6; 95% CI: 0.3, 1.1). In secondary analyses evaluating associations of each prenatal BPA concentration separately, urinary BPA concentrations measured at 16 weeks gestation were associated with wheeze (AOR = 1.2; 95% CI: 1.0, 1.5), but BPA concentrations at 26 weeks of gestation or at birth were not.

Conclusions: Mean prenatal BPA was associated with increased odds of wheeze in early life, and the effect diminished over time. Evaluating exposure at each prenatal time point demonstrated an association between wheeze from 6 months to 3 years and log-transformed BPA concentration at 16 weeks gestation only.

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Conflict of interest statement

The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the CDC.

The authors declare they have no actual or potential competing financial interests to disclose.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Percentage of children with wheeze over previous 6 months in the HOME Study (n = 365).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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