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Eva Reichrtová,¹ Peter Ciznár,² Viktor Prachar,¹ Lubica Palkovicová,¹ and Marta Veningerová¹

¹Institute of Preventive and Clinical Medicine, Bratislava, Slovakia
²Pediatric Clinic of L. Derer's Hospital, Bratislava, Slovakia

Abstract

Allergic diseases are on the rise in both prevalence and severity, especially in industrialized countries. The process of allergic sensitization needs an understanding of the role environmental factors play in its development. In addition to traditionally considered air pollutants, various persistent organochlorine pollutants, which accumulate in the human body over a lifetime via food intake, are toxic in humans. Placental contamination by chemicals may act as a biologic marker for the exposure of the mother or for the fetus via transplacental transfer. Placentas were collected from term deliveries in two Slovak regions. The samples were then analyzed for 21 selected organochlorine compounds. Specimens of cord blood from 2,050 neonates were gathered for the determination of levels of total immunoglobulin E (IgE) . The regions were chosen according to their environmental characteristics: a city polluted with organic chemical industry versus a rural region devoid of industrial sources of pollution. In addition, data regarding the incidence rate of atopic eczema cases in the regions were considered. Comparisons between regions revealed that both the placental contamination with 16 of 21 organochlorine compounds and the cord serum IgE levels were significantly higher in the industrial region. The findings pointed to an association between organochlorine compounds and the higher levels of total IgE in newborns, signaling a higher allergic sensitization in the industrial region. This association was supported by the higher incidence rate of atopic eczema cases in the population registered in the industrial region. Key words: allergy, atopic eczema, biomarkers, congeners of polychlorinated biphenyls, cord serum immunoglobulin E, human placenta, organochlorine compounds, sensitization. Environ Health Perspect 107:895-899 (1999) . [Online 12 October 1999]

http://ehpnet1.niehs.nih.gov/docs/1999/107p895-899reichrtova/ abstract.html

Address correspondence to E. Reichrtová, Institute of Preventive and Clinical Medicine, Department of Environmental Toxicology, Limbova 14, 833 01 Bratislava, Slovakia. Telephone: 421 7 59369 134. Fax: 421 7 59369 135. E-mail: reichrt@upkm.sk

This study was supported by the Slovak Ministry of the Environment by grants 007/Z-39/95 and 007/Z-39/96. We are indebted to the obstetricians and pediatricians from Bratislava city and Stará Lubovna region for their kind cooperation regarding the questionnaires and sample collection, and to M. Kimzey (Philadelphia, PA) for his linguistic review of the manuscript.

Received 10 November 1998 ; accepted 25 June 1999.