Associations of Exposure to Air Pollution During the Male Programming Window and Mini-Puberty with Anogenital Distance and Penile Width at Birth and at 1 Year of Age in the Multicenter U.S. TIDES Cohort

Overview

Journal Environ Health Perspect

Date 2023 Nov 15

PMID 37966231

Authors

Emily S Barrett

Sima Sharghi

Sally W Thurston

Marissa Sobolewski Terry

Christine T Loftus

Catherine J Karr

Ruby H N Nguyen

Shanna H Swan

Sheela Sathyanarayana

Affiliations

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Abstract

Background: Ambient air pollution may be a developmental endocrine disruptor. In animal models, gestational and perinatal exposure to diesel exhaust and concentrated particulate matter alters anogenital distance (AGD), a marker of prenatal androgen activity, in both sexes. Little is known in humans.

Objectives: We examined exposure to fine particulate matter () and nitrogen dioxide () in relation to human AGD at birth and at 1 year of age, focusing on exposures during critical windows of reproductive development: the male programming window (MPW; gestational weeks 8-14) and mini-puberty (postnatal months 1-3).

Methods: The Infant Development and Environment Study (TIDES) recruited first trimester pregnant women () at four U.S. sites (Minneapolis, Minnesota; Rochester, New York; San Francisco, California; and Seattle, Washington) from 2010 to 2012. We measured anus to clitoris (AGD-AC) and anus to fourchette (AGD-AF) in female infants at birth; in males, we measured anus to penis (AGD-AP), anus to scrotum (AGD-AS), and penile width at birth and at 1 year of age. Using advanced spatiotemporal models, we estimated maternal exposure to and in the MPW and mini-puberty. Covariate-adjusted, sex-stratified linear regression models examined associations between and and AGD.

Results: In males, a increase in exposure during the MPW was associated with shorter AGD at birth, but a longer AGD at 1 year of age (e.g., birth AGD-AP: ; 95% CI: , ; AGD-AS: ; 95% CI: 0.02, 0.73). Mini-pubertal exposure was also associated with shorter male AGD-AP (; 95% CI: , ) at 1 year of age. Although not associated with male AGD measures, increases in exposure during the MPW (; 95% CI: , ) and mini-puberty (; 95% CI: , 0.01) were both associated with smaller penile width at 1 year of age. Results were similar in multipollutant models, where we also observed that in females AGD-AC was inversely associated with exposure, but positively associated with exposure.

Discussion: and exposures during critical pre- and postnatal windows may disrupt reproductive development. More work is needed to confirm these novel results and clarify mechanisms. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP12627.

Citing Articles

Gestational exposure to PM, NO, and sex steroid hormones: Identifying critical windows of exposure in the Rochester UPSIDE Cohort.

Kahwaji M, Duttweiler L, Thurston S, Harrington D, Miller R, Murphy S Environ Epidemiol. 2025; 9(1):e361.

PMID: 39822755 PMC: 11737499. DOI: 10.1097/EE9.0000000000000361.

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