ESPE Abstracts

Background: Endocrine-disruptor compounds (EDCs) like phthalates and bisphenol A (BPA) can have long term effect on children's physical growth. Studies have reported that effect of EDCs exposure on concurrent physical parameters like weight. But there is a knowledge gap with regards to long term effects of EDCs exposure on children's physical growth. Thus, in this study we evaluated the prenatal exposure of EDCs: BPA and phthalates and their influence on physical growth in children upto 2 years.

Methods: We selected 517 eligible participants from: Mothers and Children's Environmental Health (MOCEH) study in South Korea. MOCEH is a prospective multi-centric birth cohort study. We evaluated the effect of prenatal: first (early) and third (late) trimester of pregnancy, urinary BPA, mono(2-ethyl-5-hydroxyhexyl) phthalate (MEHHP), mono(2-ethyl-5-oxohexyl) phthalate (MEOHP), and mono-n-butyl phthalate (MBP) on z-scores of height, weight and body mass index (BMI) at 6,12 and 24 months using linear mixed model analysis.

Results: Linear mixed model analysis showed that late pregnancy MEHHP was associated with increase in weight z-score in children up to 24 months. Late pregnancy MEHHP significantly increased (β=0.07, 0.01-0.13) weight z-scores up to 24 months when all the EDCs together were included in one model for the mixed model analysis. We did not find significant results for early pregnancy EDCs exposure on z-scores of height, weight and BMI up to 24 months

Conclusion: Our results shows the long term effect of late pregnancy EDCs exposure: mono(2-ethyl-5-hydroxyhexyl) phthalate on weight z-scores up to 24 months. Our study identified the critical period of prenatal EDCs exposure affecting children's growth. Further, suggesting the need to explore the joint effects of exposure to mixtures of EDCs on children's health.

Acknowledgement: This study was supported by Ministry of Environment, Republic of Korea.