Cross-sectional associations between exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances and body mass index among European teenagers in the HBM4EU aligned studies - Université de Rennes Access content directly
Journal Articles Environmental Pollution Year : 2023

Cross-sectional associations between exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances and body mass index among European teenagers in the HBM4EU aligned studies

Tessa Schillemans
Nina Iszatt
  • Function : Author
Sylvie Remy
Greet Schoeters
  • Function : Author
Mariana Fernández
  • Function : Author
Anteneh Desalegn
Line Haug
Sanna Lignell
Anna Karin Lindroos
  • Function : Author
Lucia Fábelová
  • Function : Author
Lubica Palkovicova Murinova
Tina Kosjek
  • Function : Author
Žiga Tkalec
  • Function : Author
Catherine Gabriel
Denis Sarigiannis
  • Function : Author
Susana Pedraza-Díaz
  • Function : Author
Marta Esteban-López
  • Function : Author
Argelia Castaño
  • Function : Author
Loïc Rambaud
  • Function : Author
Margaux Riou
Sara Pauwels
Nik Vanlarebeke
  • Function : Author
Marike Kolossa-Gehring
Nina Vogel
Maria Uhl
  • Function : Author
Eva Govarts

Abstract

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are widespread pollutants that may impact youth adiposity patterns. We investigated cross-sectional associations between PFAS and body mass index (BMI) in teenagers/adolescents across nine European countries within the Human Biomonitoring for Europe (HBM4EU) initiative. We used data from 1957 teenagers (12-18 yrs) that were part of the HBM4EU aligned studies, consisting of nine HBM studies (NEBII, Norway; Riksmaten Adolescents 2016-17, Sweden; PCB cohort (follow-up), Slovakia; SLO CRP, Slovenia; CROME, Greece; BEA, Spain; ESTEBAN, France; FLEHS IV, Belgium; GerES V-sub, Germany). Twelve PFAS were measured in blood, whilst weight and height were measured by field nurse/physician or self-reported in questionnaires. We assessed associations between PFAS and age- and sex-adjusted BMI z-scores using linear and logistic regression adjusted for potential confounders. Random-effects meta-analysis and mixed effects models were used to pool studies. We assessed mixture effects using molar sums of exposure biomarkers with toxicological/structural similarities and quantile g-computation. In all studies, the highest concentrations of PFAS were PFOS (medians ranging from 1.34 to 2.79 μg/L). There was a tendency for negative associations with BMI z-scores for all PFAS (except for PFHxS and PFHpS), which was borderline significant for the molar sum of [PFOA and PFNA] and significant for single PFOA [β-coefficient (95% CI) per interquartile range fold change = -0.06 (-0.17, 0.00) and -0.08 (-0.15, -0.01), respectively]. Mixture assessment indicated similar negative associations of the total mixture of [PFOA, PFNA, PFHxS and PFOS] with BMI z-score, but not all compounds showed associations in the same direction: whilst [PFOA, PFNA and PFOS] were negatively associated, [PFHxS] associated positively with BMI z-score. Our results indicated a tendency for associations of relatively low PFAS concentrations with lower BMI in European teenagers. More prospective research is needed to investigate this potential relationship and its implications for health later in life.

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hal-04204564 , version 1 (12-09-2023)

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Tessa Schillemans, Nina Iszatt, Sylvie Remy, Greet Schoeters, Mariana Fernández, et al.. Cross-sectional associations between exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances and body mass index among European teenagers in the HBM4EU aligned studies. Environmental Pollution, 2023, 316 (Pt 1), pp.120566. ⟨10.1016/j.envpol.2022.120566⟩. ⟨hal-04204564⟩
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