Toxicokinetic Modeling of Persistent Organic Pollutant Levels in Blood from Birth to 45 Months of Age in Longitudinal Birth Cohort Studies

Overview

Journal Environ Health Perspect

Date 2012 Oct 23

PMID 23086694

Citations 20

Authors

Marc-Andre Verner

Dean Sonneborn

Kinga Lancz

Gina Muckle

Pierre Ayotte

Eric Dewailly

Anton Kocan

Lubica Palkovicova

Tomas Trnovec

Sami Haddad

Irva Hertz-Picciotto

Merete Eggesbo

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: Despite experimental evidence that lactational exposure to persistent organic pollutants (POPs) can impact health, results from epidemiologic studies are inconclusive. Inconsistency across studies may reflect the inability of current methods to estimate children's blood levels during specific periods of susceptibility.

Objectives: We developed a toxicokinetic model to simulate blood POP levels in children from two longitudinal birth cohorts and aimed to validate it against blood levels measured at 6, 16, and 45 months of age.

Methods: The model consisted of a maternal and a child lipid compartment connected through placental diffusion and breastfeeding. Simulations were carried out based on individual physiologic parameters; duration of breastfeeding; and levels of POPs measured in maternal blood at delivery, cord blood, or breast milk. Model validity was assessed through regression analyses of simulated against measured blood levels.

Results: Simulated levels explained between 10% and 83% of measured blood levels depending on the cohort, the compound, the sample used to simulate children's blood levels, and child's age when blood levels were measured. Model accuracy was highest for estimated blood POP levels at 6 months based on maternal or cord blood levels. However, loss in model precision between the 6th and the 45th month was small for most compounds.

Conclusions: Our validated toxicokinetic model can be used to estimate children's blood POP levels in early to mid-childhood. Estimates can be used in epidemiologic studies to evaluate the impact of exposure during hypothesized postnatal periods of susceptibility on health.

Citing Articles

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Gautam S, Sood N, Gupta K, Joshi C, Gill K, Kaur R Heliyon. 2020; 6(10):e05274.

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Estimated postnatal p,p'-DDT and p,p'-DDE levels and body mass index at 42 months of age in a longitudinal study of Japanese children.

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Verner M, Chevrier J, Ngueta G, Rauch S, Bornman R, Eskenazi B Environ Int. 2018; 119:478-484.

PMID: 30036731 PMC: 6150710. DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2018.07.010.

Prenatal and postnatal exposure to persistent organic pollutants and attention-deficit and hyperactivity disorder: a pooled analysis of seven European birth cohort studies.

Forns J, Stigum H, Hoyer B, Sioen I, Sovcikova E, Nowack N Int J Epidemiol. 2018; 47(4):1082-1097.

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