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Chunyuan Fei,¹ Joseph K. McLaughlin,^2,3 Robert E. Tarone,^2,3 and Jørn Olsen^1,4

¹Department of Epidemiology, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA; ²International Epidemiology Institute, Rockville, Maryland, USA; ³Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Vanderbilt–Ingram Cancer Center, Nashville, Tennessee, USA; ⁴Institute of Public Health, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark

Abstract
Background: Perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoate (PFOA) are man-made, persistent organic pollutants widely spread throughout the environment and human populations. They have been found to interfere with fetal growth in some animal models, but whether a similar effect is seen in humans is uncertain.

Objectives: We investigated the association between plasma levels of PFOS and PFOA in pregnant women and their infants' birth weight and length of gestation.

Methods: We randomly selected 1,400 women and their infants from the Danish National Birth Cohort among those who completed all four computer-assisted telephone interviews, provided the first blood samples between gestational weeks 4 and 14, and who gave birth to a single live-born child without congenital malformation. PFOS and PFOA were measured by high performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometer.

Results: PFOS and PFOA levels in maternal plasma were on average 35.3 and 5.6 ng/mL, respectively. Only PFOA levels were inversely associated with birth weight (adjusted β = –10.63 g ; 95% confidence interval, –20.79 to –0.47 g) . Neither maternal PFOS nor PFOA levels were consistently associated with the risk for preterm birth or low birth weight. We observed no adverse effects for maternal PFOS or PFOA levels on small for gestational age.

Conclusion: Our nationwide cohort data suggest an inverse association between maternal plasma PFOA levels and birth weight. Because of widespread exposure to these chemicals, our findings may be of potential public health concern.

Key words: birth weight, cord blood, length of gestation, low birth weight, maternal blood, PFOA, PFOS, preterm birth, small for gestational age. Environ Health Perspect 115:1677–1682 (2007) . doi:10.1289/ehp.10506 available via http://dx.doi.org/ [Online 16 August 2007]

Address correspondence to J. Olsen, Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, UCLA, 650 Charles E. Young Dr., Los Angeles, CA 90095-1772 USA. Telephone: (310) 825-3516. Fax: (310) 206-6039. E-mail: jo@ucla.edu

We appreciate the work of D.J. Ehresman and his team members in the analysis of PFOS/PFOA in plasma.

This study was supported by the International Epidemiology Institute (IEI) , which received funding from the 3M Company. The 3M Toxicology Laboratory performed all laboratory analyses.

J.K.M. and R.E.T. are employed by IEI, which has received funding from 3M. The other authors declare they have no competing financial interests.

Received 25 May 2007 ; accepted 15 August 2007.