Bisphenol and phthalate exposure during pregnancy and the development of childhood lung function and asthma. The Generation R Study

Background: Fetal exposure to bisphenols and phthalates may lead to alterations in the respiratory and immune system development in children, and to adverse respiratory health.Aim: To study the associations of fetal bisphenols and phthalates exposure with lung function and asthma at age 13 years.Study design and methods: This study among 1020 children was embedded in a population-based prospective cohort study. We measured maternal urine bisphenol and phthalate concentrations in the first, second and third trimester of pregnancy, and lung function by spirometry and asthma by questionnaires at age 13 years. Multivariable linear and logistic regression models were applied.Results: Maternal urine bisphenol and phthalate concentrations averaged during pregnancy were not associated with childhood lung function or asthma. Associations of maternal urine bisphenol and phthalate concentrations in specific trimesters with respiratory outcomes showed that one interquartile range increase in the natural logtransformed maternal urine mono-isobutyl phthalate concentration in the second trimester was associated with a higher FEV1/FVC, but not with asthma, accounting for confounders and multiple-testing correction. Although there were associations of higher second trimester bisphenol S with a lower FVC and FEV1 in boys and girls, and of higher first trimester bisphenol S with a decreased risk of asthma in boys and an increased risk of asthma in girls, these results did not remain significant after correction for multiple testing. Results were not modified by maternal history of asthma or atopy.Conclusions: Maternal urine bisphenol and phthalate concentrations averaged or in specific trimesters during pregnancy were not strongly associated with childhood lung function and asthma at age 13 years. BPS, as a BPA substitute, tended to be associated with impaired lung function and altered risk of asthma, partly sex-dependent, but its strength was limited by a relatively low detection rate and should be queried in contemporary cohorts.

Automated summary

This study aimed to investigate the potential effects of fetal exposure to bisphenols and phthalates on respiratory and immune system development in children, as well as respiratory health. The results showed no strong associations between maternal urine concentrations of bisphenols and phthalates during pregnancy and lung function and asthma in children at age 13 years.