A Case-control Study of Maternal Exposure to Chromium and Infant Low Birth Weight in China

Overview

Journal Chemosphere

Specialties Biology
Chemistry
Environmental Health

Date 2015 Oct 27

PMID 26498095

Citations 18

Authors

Wei Xia

Jie Hu

Bin Zhang

Yuanyuan Li

John Pierce Wise Sr

Bryan A Bassig

Aifen Zhou

David A Savitz

Chao Xiong

Jinzhu Zhao

Xiaofu Du

Yanqiu Zhou

Xinyun Pan

Jie Yang

Chuansha Wu

Minmin Jiang

Yang Peng

Zhengmin Qian

Tongzhang Zheng

Shunqing Xu

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Exposure to chromium is increasing due to environmental pollution from industrial processes. Several epidemiological studies have investigated chromium exposure and reproductive outcomes, but few studies have investigated the association of chromium exposure and low birth weight (LBW). This study was designed to investigate whether maternal exposure to chromium during pregnancy is associated with an increased risk of LBW. Chromium concentrations in maternal urine samples collected at delivery were measured in 204 LBW cases and 612 matched controls recruited between 2012 and 2014 in Hubei Province, China. Risk of LBW was associated with higher levels of chromium in maternal urine [adjusted odds ratio (OR) = 1.77 for the medium tertile, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.95, 3.29; adjusted OR = 2.48 for the highest tertile, 95% CI: 1.33, 4.61; P trend = 0.01]. The association was more pronounced among female infants (adjusted OR = 3.67 for the highest tertile, 95% CI: 1.50, 8.97) than among male infants (adjusted OR = 1.22 for the highest tertile, 95% CI = 0.48, 3.11) (p heterogeneity = 0.06). Our findings suggest that maternal exposure to higher levels of chromium during pregnancy may potentially increase the risk of delivering LBW infants, particularly for female infants.

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