Maternal concentrations of perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoate (PFOA) and duration of breastfeeding.
OBJECTIVE
Perfluorooctanoate (PFOA) has been associated with impaired lactation in mice. We examined whether maternal perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS) and PFOA concentrations correlated with duration of breastfeeding among women.


METHODS
We randomly selected 1400 pregnant women from the Danish national birth cohort (1996-2002) and measured PFOS and PFOA concentrations in early pregnancy by using high performance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry. Self-reported data on the duration of any and exclusive breastfeeding were collected twice during telephone interviews around 6 and 18 months after the birth of the child.


RESULTS
The duration of breastfeeding decreased with increasing concentrations of pregnancy PFOS and PFOA among multiparous women, for whom the adjusted odds ratios (OR) for weaning before 6 months of age were 1.20 (95% CI 1.06-1.37) per 10 ng/ml increase in PFOS concentrations and 1.23 (95% CI 1.13-1.33) per 1 ng/ml increase in PFOA concentrations. No consistent association was found for primiparous women.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings suggest that PFOA and PFOS may reduce the ability to lactate, but could equally reflect reverse causation since no association was seen in primiparous women.
Fei
Chunyuan
C
Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, UCLA, Box 951772, 650 Charles E Young Drive South, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1772, USA. cfei@ucla.edu
McLaughlin
Joseph K
JK
Lipworth
Loren
L
Olsen
Jørn
J
D000328:Adult; D017738:Alkanesulfonic Acids / Q000097:blood / Q000633:toxicity*; D001942:Breast Feeding; D002210:Caprylates / Q000097:blood / Q000633:toxicity*; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D003718:Denmark; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects; D005260:Female; D005466:Fluorocarbons / Q000097:blood / Q000633:toxicity*; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D016015:Logistic Models; D013058:Mass Spectrometry; D018811:Maternal Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects*; D008429:Maternal Welfare; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011247:Pregnancy; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013997:Time Factors
D017738:Alkanesulfonic Acids; D002210:Caprylates; D005466:Fluorocarbons; C023036:perfluorooctanoic acid; C076994:perfluorooctane sulfonic acid