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Abstract: Association of In Utero Organochlorine Pesticide Exposure and Fetal Growth and Length of Gestation in an Agricultural Population
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Citation: Fenster L, Eskenazi B, Anderson M, Bradman A, Harley K, Hernandez H, Hubbard A, Barr DB. Association of In Utero Organochlorine Pesticide Exposure and Fetal Growth and Length of Gestation in an Agricultural Population. Environmental Health Perspectives 114:597-602 (2006).
Abstract:
From 1940 through the 1970s, organochlorine compounds were widely used as
insecticides in the United States. Thereafter, their use was severely restricted
after recognition of their persistence in the environment, their toxicity
in animals, and their potential for endocrine disruption. Although substantial
evidence exists for the fetal toxicity of organochlorines in animals, information
on human reproductive effects is conflicting. We investigated whether infants’ length
of gestation, birth weight, and crown-heel length were associated with maternal
serum levels of 11 different organochlorine pesticides: p,p´-dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane
(p,p´-DDT) , p,p´-dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene
(p,p´-DDE) , o,p´-dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane
(o,p´-DDT) , hexachlorobenzene (HCB) , β-hexachlorocyclohexane
(β-HCCH) , 
-hexachlorocyclohexane
(-HCCH)
, dieldrin, heptachlor epoxide, oxychlordane, trans-nonachlor, and
mirex. Our subjects were a birth cohort of 385 low-income Latinas living in
the Salinas Valley, an agricultural community in California. We observed no
adverse associations between maternal serum organochlorine levels and birth
weight or crown-heel length. We found decreased length of gestation with increasing
levels of lipid-adjusted HCB (adjusted β = -0.47 weeks ; p =
0.05) . We did not find reductions in gestational duration associated with
any of the other organochlorine pesticides. Our finding of decreased length
of gestation related to HCB does not seem to have had clinical implications
for this population, given its relatively low rate of preterm delivery (6.5%)
.
Keywords: birth weight, DDE, DDT, gestational age, hexachlorobenzene, organochlorine, pesticides, pregnancy, serum
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