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Sex specific associations between in utero exposure to persistent organic pollutants and allergy-related outcomes in childhood: The Rhea Mother–Child Cohort (Crete, Greece)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 December 2021

Katerina Margetaki ,
Maria Alexaki ,
Evangelos Vittorakis ,
Theano Roumeliotaki ,
Vasiliki Leventakou ,
Vicky Bempi ,
Georgia Chalkiadaki ,
Soterios A. Kyrtopoulos ,
Panu Rantakokko  and
Hannu Kiviranta
...Show all authors
Katerina Margetaki
Affiliation:
Department of Social Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Crete, Heraklion, Greece
Maria Alexaki
Affiliation:
Department of Social Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Crete, Heraklion, Greece
Evangelos Vittorakis
Affiliation:
Department of Social Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Crete, Heraklion, Greece
Theano Roumeliotaki
Affiliation:
Department of Social Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Crete, Heraklion, Greece
Vasiliki Leventakou
Affiliation:
Department of Social Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Crete, Heraklion, Greece Department of Health Research Governance, Ministry of Public Health, AL Rumaila, Doha, Qatar
Vicky Bempi
Affiliation:
Department of Social Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Crete, Heraklion, Greece
Georgia Chalkiadaki
Affiliation:
Department of Social Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Crete, Heraklion, Greece
Soterios A. Kyrtopoulos
Affiliation:
Institute of Biology, Institute of Chemical Biology, National Hellenic Research Foundation, Athens, Greece
Panu Rantakokko
Affiliation:
Department of Health Security, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Kuopio, Finland
Hannu Kiviranta
Affiliation:
Department of Health Security, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Kuopio, Finland
Euripides G. Stephanou
Affiliation:
Environmental Chemical Processes Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, University of Crete, Heraklion, Greece
Manolis Kogevinas
Affiliation:
ISGlobal, Barcelona, Spain Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain CIBER Epidemiología y Salud Pública, Barcelona, Spain
Leda Chatzi
Affiliation:
Department of Preventive Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Marina Vafeiadi*
Affiliation:
Department of Social Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Crete, Heraklion, Greece
*
Address for correspondence: Marina Vafeiadi, PhD, Department of Social Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Crete, P.O. Box 2208, Heraklion71003, Crete, Greece, Email: bafom@uoc.gr
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Abstract

Accumulating evidence suggests that in utero exposures can influence the development of the immune system. Few studies have investigated whether prenatal exposure to persistent organic pollutants (POPs) is associated with allergy-related phenotypes in childhood, nor explored sex differences. We examined the association between prenatal exposure to POPs and offspring allergic outcomes in early and mid-childhood. We included 682 mother–child pairs from the prospective birth cohort Rhea. We measured dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (DDE), hexachlorobenzene (HCB) and 6 polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) congeners in maternal first trimester serum. Parents completed the questionnaires adapted from the International Study on Asthma and Allergy in Childhood (ISAAC) for allergy-related phenotypes when their children were 4 and 6 years old. We used Poisson regression models to estimate Risk Ratios. Prenatal HCB was associated with increased risk for rhinoconjunctivitis at 6 years (RR (95% CI): 2.5; (1.3, 4.8) for a doubling in the exposure). Among girls, prenatal DDE was associated with increased risk for current wheeze, current asthma and current rhinoconjunctivitis at 4 years (RR (95%CI): 1.4 (0.8, 2.6), 1.6 (1.1, 2.4) and 1.8 (1.0, 3.3) and p-interaction = 0.035, 0.027 and 0.059, respectively), with increased risk for current rhinoconjunctivitis at 6 years (RR (95%CI): 1.7 (0.7, 3.8) and p-interaction = 0.028) and total PCBs were associated with increased risk for current eczema at 4 years (RR (95%CI): 2.1 (1.1, 4.2) and p-interaction = 0.028). In boys, prenatal DDE was associated with decreased risk for current wheeze and current asthma at 4 years. Our findings suggest that even low levels of exposure to POPs prenatally may affect the development of childhood allergy-related outcomes in a sex and age-specific manner.

Keywords

DDEHCBPCBallergic disease
Type
Original Article
Information
Journal of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease , Volume 13 , Issue 5 , October 2022 , pp. 566 - 574
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press in association with International Society for Developmental Origins of Health and Disease

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Footnotes

Katerina Margetaki and Maria Alexaki contributed equally.

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