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The PELAGIE mother-child cohort study, conducted in western France, aims to examine the impact of prenatal exposure to chemicals on pregnancy outcomes and child health. The study followed over 3,000 pregnant women and their newborns, collecting extensive data on chemical exposures and various health outcomes. The cohort is part of a European network and welcomes collaborations. The study found associations between prenatal exposure to solvents, pesticides, and persistent organic pollutants and adverse health effects in children. The data collected is available for further research. [Extracted from the article]

Background: Hypospadias is a male genital tract defect for which an increase in prevalence has been documented over the last few decades. A role for environmental risk factors is suspected, including prenatal exposure to pesticides. Objectives: To study the risk of hypospadias in association with multiple pesticide measurements in meconium samples. Methods: The Brittany Registry of Congenital Anomalies (France) conducted a case-control study between 2012 and 2018. Cases were hypospadias, ascertained by a pediatrician and a pediatric surgeon, excluding genetic conditions, following European Surveillance of Congenital Anomalies guidelines (N = 69). Controls (N = 135) were two male infants without congenital anomaly born after each case in the same maternity unit. Mothers in the maternity units completed a self-administered questionnaire, we collected medical data from hospital records, and medical staff collected meconium samples. We performed chemical analysis of 38 pesticides (parent compound and/or metabolite) by UHPLC/MS/MS following strict quality assurance/quality control criteria and blind to case-control status. We carried out logistic regression accounting for frequency-matching variables and major risk factors. Results: Among the 38 pesticides measured, 16 (42%) were never detected in the meconium samples, 18 (47%) were in <5% of samples, and 4 (11%) in =5% of the samples. We observed an association between the detection of fenitrothion in meconium and the risk of hypospadias (OR = 2.6 [1.0-6.3] with ncases = 13, ncontrols = 21), but not the other pesticides. Conclusions: Our small study provides a robust assessment of fetal exposure. Fenitrothion's established antiandrogenic activities provide biologic plausibility for our observations. Further studies are needed to confirm this hypothesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Polychlorobiphenyls (PCBs), organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are persistent organic pollutants (POPs) having numerous toxicological properties, including thyroid endocrine disruption. Our aim was to assess the impact of POPs on thyroid hormones among 12-year-old children, while taking puberty into consideration. Methods: Exposure to 7 PCBs, 4 OCPs, and 6 PFASs (in µg/L), and free tri-iodothyronine (fT3, pg/mL), free thyroxine (fT4, ng/dL), and thyroid-stimulating hormones (TSH, mIU/L) were assessed through blood-serum measurements at age 12 years in 249 boys and 227 girls of the PELAGIE mother-child cohort (France). Pubertal status was clinically rated using the Tanner stages. For each POP, associations were estimated using linear regression, adjusted for potential confounders. Results: Among boys, hexachlorobenzene and perfluorodecanoic acid were associated with decreased fT3 (log-scale; β [95% confidence interval] = -0.07 [−0.12,−0.02] and β = −0.03 [−0.06,−0.00], respectively). Intermediate levels of perfluorohexanesulfonic acid (PFHxS) and PCB180 were associated, respectively, with increased and decreased fT4. After stratification on pubertal status, PCBs and OCPs were associated with decreased TSH only in the more advanced Tanner stages (3–5) and with decreased fT3 among early Tanner stages (1–2). Among girls, PFHxS was associated with decreased TSH (log-scale; β = −0.15 [−0.29,-0.00]), and perfluorooctanoic acid was associated with decreased fT3 (β2nd_tercile = −0.06 [−0.10,-0.03] and β3rd_tercile = −0.04 [−0.08,-0.00], versus. 1st tercile). Discussion: This cross-sectional study highlights associations between some POPs and thyroid function disruption, which appears consistent with the literature. Considering that the associations were sex-specific and moderated by pubertal status in boys, complex endocrine interactions are likely involved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Ambient temperature, particularly heat, is increasingly acknowledged as a trigger for preterm delivery but study designs have been limited and results mixed. We aimed to comprehensively evaluate the association between ambient temperature throughout pregnancy and preterm delivery. Methods We estimated daily temperature throughout pregnancy using a cutting-edge spatiotemporal model for 5347 live singleton births from three prospective cohorts in France, 2002–2018. We performed Cox regression (survival analysis) with distributed lags to evaluate time-varying associations with preterm birth simultaneously controlling for exposure during the first 26 weeks and last 30 days of pregnancy. We examined weekly mean, daytime, night-time and variability of temperature, and heatwaves accounting for adaptation to location and season. Results Preterm birth risk was higher following cold (5th vs 50th percentile of mean temperature) 7–9 weeks after conception [relative risk (RR): 1.3, 95% CI: 1.0–1.6 for 2°C vs 11.6°C] and 10–4 days before delivery (RR: 1.6, 95% CI: 1.1–2.1 for 1.2°C vs 12.1°C). Night-time heat (95th vs 50th percentile of minimum temperature; 15.7°C vs 7.4°C) increased risk when exposure occurred within 5 weeks of conception (RR: 2.0, 95% CI: 1.05–3.8) or 20–26 weeks after conception (RR: 2.9, 95% CI: 1.2–6.8). Overall and daytime heat (high mean and maximum temperature) showed consistent effects. We found no clear associations with temperature variability or heatwave indicators, suggesting they may be less relevant for preterm birth. Conclusions In a temperate climate, night-time heat and chronic and acute cold exposures were associated with increased risk of preterm birth. These results suggest night-time heat as a relevant indicator. In the context of rising temperatures and more frequent weather hazards, these results should inform public health policies to reduce the growing burden of preterm births. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exposure of the general population to pesticides, especially in agricultural areas, is a major public health concern. This review analyses the role of Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) in Residential Exposure to Agricultural Pesticides (REAP) and how it is measured and modelled. Some epidemiological studies have shown that basic LULC variables, such as distance to a crop and field size, are relevant for explaining REAP. However, the potential of LULC mitigation elements, such as vegetation barriers, grassy strips and buffer zones, to mitigate REAP has been poorly studied. The availability of recent low-cost and high-quality geospatial data enables REAP models to include alternative and more precise LULC variables. This review also highlights the need for (i) generic environmental sampling protocols, (ii) exposure and spraying datasets and (iii) assessment of the mitigation capacity of LULC to improve REAP modelling significantly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: While a number of studies have examined the effects of prenatal exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) on childhood obesity, the results reported have been inconsistent and few studies have integrated biological markers. The aim of this study was to investigate the associations between prenatal exposure to PFAS and cardiometabolic health parameters at age 12, taking pubertal stage into consideration., Method: This study included 394 mother-child pairs enrolled in the PELAGIE mother-child cohort (France). Nine PFAS were measured in umbilical cord blood, and the children attended a clinical examination at age 12. Anthropometry, blood metabolic markers, and blood pressure were measured and used to build an internal cardiometabolic score. Linear regression and Quantile G-computation models were used to evaluate individual and mixture PFAS effects, adjusting for confounders and stratifying by sex and pubertal stage., Results: No statistically significant association was observed between prenatal exposure to PFAS and cardiometabolic score at age 12. In post-menarche girls, perfluorohexane sulfonate (PFHxS) and perfluorodecanoic acid (PFDA) were statistically significantly associated with a decrease in a number of adiposity parameters (e.g., Body mass index z-score: beta [95%CI] = -0.37 [-0.67; -0.07]), as well as a decrease in low-density lipoproteins (LDL) and leptin levels. Similar results were observed with PFAS mixture, with statistically significantly decreased tricipital skinfolds (beta [95%CI] = -1.30 [(-2.54;-0.06)]). Isolated associations, including higher systolic blood pressure, changes in cholesterol levels, and lower adiponectin levels were observed in specific subgroups., Conclusion: There is no clear evidence of an association between prenatal exposure to PFAS and the cardiometabolic health at earlier stage of pubertal development. However, inverse associations between PFAS and anthropometric measures have been observed in post-menarche girls. While the literature on this topic is scarce in pre-adolescents, these results suggest the importance of considering sex and pubertal stage in these associations., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)