Maternal occupational exposures to nanoscale particles and small for gestational age outcome in the French Longitudinal Study of Children

Objectives: To investigate the association between maternal occupational exposures to nanoscale particles (NPs) during pregnancy and small for gestational age (SGA). Methods: This study included 11,224 mothers and singleton birth pairs from the French Longitudinal Study of Children (ELFE cohort), which included infants born after 33 weeks of gestation or more in continental France in 2011. Mothers who did not work during pregnancy were excluded from the analyses. Maternal occupational exposures to NPs was estimated using a job-exposure matrix for the probability (> 50%: occupationally exposed group, n=569; 0%: occupationally non-exposed group, n=9113; between these two thresholds: uncertain group, n=1542) and frequency of exposure. Associations were estimated from multivariate logistic regression models for occupationally exposed vs occupationally unexposed groups in a first analysis, and with the frequency-weighted duration of work for the occupationally exposed group only in a second analysis. Results: Among working mothers, 5.1% were occupationally exposed to NPs. Maternal occupational exposures to NPs was associated with SGA (ORa = 1.63, 95% CI: 1.22, 2.18). The frequency-weighted duration of work for the occupationally exposed group (n = 569) was not associated with SGA (ORa = 1.02, 95% CI: 0.97, 1.08) in adjusted analyses. Conclusions: These results, showing a significant association between occupational exposures to NPs and SGA, should encourage further studies to examine the adverse effect of NPs exposure on fetal development.