Patal Bisphenol-A exposure affects fetal length growth by maternal glutathione transferase polymorphisms, and neonatal exposure affects child volume growth by sex: From multiregional prospective birth cohort MOCEH study

We aimed to evaluate the effects of Bisphenol-A (BPA) exposure on fetal/child growth from the fetal period to 72 months after birth. The MOCEH study is a prospective birth cohort study in Korea. A total of 788 mother-child pairs in the third trimester and 366 pairs in the neonatal period who completed BPA assessment and fetal/children growth outcomes were included. BPA assessments were conducted twice in the third trimester using maternal urines and the neonatal period using neonatal urines. Fetal femur length was measured with ultrasound, and estimated-fetal-weight was calculated. Child growth outcomes including three z-scores for age-specific length, weight-for-length (WFL) and weight were calculated. Analysis was performed according to infant sex and maternal glutathione transferases (GSTs) polymorphisms. When maternal urinary BPA concentration in the third trimester increased by 1 log-transformed unit of BPA/Cr, the third trimester femur length decreased 0.03(0.01) cm in the whole and 0.06(0.02) cm in the GSTM1/GSTT1 either null group. Then, maternal urinary BPA levels and birth outcomes were positively correlated. When the prenatal BPA concentration is increased by 1 log-transformed unit of BPA/Cr, the z-score for weight at birth increased 0.05(0.02) in whole and 0.06(0.03) in boys and the z-score for WFL at birth increased 0.05(0.02) in whole and 0.07(0.03) in girls. In linear mixed models, significant positive effects of the neonatal urinary BPA were found on WFL over the 72 months period. When the neonatal BPA concentration is increased by 1 log-transformed unit of BPA concentration, the z-score for weight through 6–72 months increased 0.09(0.03) in whole and 0.12(0.05) in girls. Our study suggests BPA exposure is negatively associated with intrauterine linear growth, but has a positive association with volume growth during childhood. Furthermore, intrauterine growth was affected by maternal GSTs polymorphism, and child growth was affected by sex.