Association of serum concentrations of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and risk of pre-eclampsia: a case–control study

• Published in: Journal of environmental health science and engineering Vol. 14; no. 1; p. 17
• Main Authors: Eslami, Bita, Malekafzali, Hossein, Rastkari, Noushin, Rashidi, Batool Hossein, Djazayeri, Abolghasem, Naddafi, Kazem
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London BioMed Central 24-11-2016; BioMed Central Ltd
• Subjects: Case studies; Earth and Environmental Science; Environment; Environmental Economics; Environmental engineering; Environmental Engineering/Biotechnology; Environmental Health; Environmental Law/Policy/Ecojustice; Health aspects; Persistent organic pollutants; Preeclampsia; Pregnant women; Quality of Life Research; Research Article; Risk factors; Waste Management/Waste Technology; Iran; Persistent Organic pollutants (POPs); Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs); Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers (PBDEs); Pre-eclampsia; Case–control study
• ISSN: 2052-336X; 2052-336X
• DOI: 10.1186/s40201-016-0256-9

Background
There is increasing evidence that persistent organic pollutants (POPs) may contribute to pre-eclampsia. The objective of this study was to evaluate the association between Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) and Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers (PBDEs) as POPs with pre-eclampsia.
Methods
This case–control study was performed in the three general university hospitals of Tehran University of Medical Sciences. Serum samples were collected from cases (
n
 = 45) who had diagnosed with preeclampsia and from control samples (
n
 = 70) with normal pregnancy and attended the same hospital for a routine prenatal visit at the third trimester of pregnancy. Pollutants levels were analyzed by Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (GC/MS).
Results
Mean participant age was 27.3 ± 5.39 with median 27. As the main independent variable, total POPs manifested with adjusted OR equal to 1.54 (95 % CI: 1.26–1.87,
p
-value <0.0001), which was significantly associated with pre-eclampsia. The adjusted OR proved a statistically significant association between total PCBs 1.77 (95 % CI: 1.34–2.32) and total PBDEs (OR = 2.19; 95 % CI: 1.39–3.45,
p
-value = 0.001) with pre-eclampsia considering confounding variables (maternal age, pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI), gestational age, weight gain during pregnancy and total lipids in maternal serum). Finally, pre-pregnancy BMI and weight gain during pregnancy had a positive association with pre-eclampsia and gestational age yielded a negative association with pre-eclampsia in all analysis.
Conclusion
Our data indicate the association between total POPs, total PBDEs, and total PCBs with pre-eclampsia, even after controlling for the effects of a number of potentially confounding factors. Further investigation about route of exposure and the trend of POPs especially in pregnant women is needed.