title: Critical Windows of Prenatal Exposure to Cadmium and Size at Birth.
abstract: Prenatal cadmium (Cd) exposure has been associated with adverse birth outcomes, but the findings of previous studies are inconsistent. We measured Cd concentrations in urine samples at or near 13, 24, and 35 gestational weeks from 282 women in Wuhan, China. We used generalized estimating equation models to assess the associations between maternal creatinine adjusted urinary Cd concentrations at each trimester and birth size. A significant inverse association was observed between higher maternal Cd levels measured during the 1st trimester and birth size in girls. For each log unit increase in Cd (µg/g creatinine) levels from the 1st trimester, there was a decrease in birth weight by 116.99 g (95% confidence interval (CI): -208.87, -25.11 g). The Cd levels from the 1st and 2nd trimesters were also borderline significantly associated with ponderal index in girls. Joint estimation of trimester-specific effects suggested that associations with Cd levels for ponderal index (pint= 0.02) were significantly different across trimesters, and differences for effects across trimesters for birth weight were marginally significant (pint= 0.08) in girls. No significant associations were observed between Cd levels from any trimester and birth size in boys. Maternal Cd exposure during earlier periods of pregnancy may have a larger impact on delayed fetal growth.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Environment and Health (HUST), Ministry of Education and Ministry of Environmental Protection, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430000, Hubei, China. chenglu822@hotmail.com.|State Key Laboratory of Environmental Health (Incubation), School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430000, Hubei, China. chenglu822@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Lu
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Environment and Health (HUST), Ministry of Education and Ministry of Environmental Protection, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430000, Hubei, China. mchwhzb@163.com.|State Key Laboratory of Environmental Health (Incubation), School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430000, Hubei, China. mchwhzb@163.com.|Women and Children Medical and Healthcare Center of Wuhan, Wuhan 430000, Hubei, China. mchwhzb@163.com.
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA. tongzhang_zheng@brown.edu.
authors.forename: Tongzhang
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Environment and Health (HUST), Ministry of Education and Ministry of Environmental Protection, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430000, Hubei, China. hujie_tjmu@126.com.|State Key Laboratory of Environmental Health (Incubation), School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430000, Hubei, China. hujie_tjmu@126.com.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Women and Children Medical and Healthcare Center of Wuhan, Wuhan 430000, Hubei, China. april1972@163.com.
authors.forename: Aifen
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, CT 06520, USA. bryan.bassig@nih.gov.
authors.forename: Bryan A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Bassig
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Environment and Health (HUST), Ministry of Education and Ministry of Environmental Protection, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430000, Hubei, China. xiawei@hust.edu.cn.|State Key Laboratory of Environmental Health (Incubation), School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430000, Hubei, China. xiawei@hust.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA. david_savitz@brown.edu.
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Savitz
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA. stephen_buka@brown.edu.
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Buka
authors.affiliation: Women and Children Medical and Healthcare Center of Wuhan, Wuhan 430000, Hubei, China. xcpopo11@yeah.net.
authors.forename: Chao
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Xiong
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA. joseph_braun_1@brown.edu.
authors.forename: Joseph M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Braun
authors.affiliation: Women and Children Medical and Healthcare Center of Wuhan, Wuhan 430000, Hubei, China. cardinal3542@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Yaqi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Environment and Health (HUST), Ministry of Education and Ministry of Environmental Protection, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430000, Hubei, China. 16483596@life.hkbu.edu.hk.|State Key Laboratory of Environmental Health (Incubation), School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430000, Hubei, China. 16483596@life.hkbu.edu.hk.
authors.forename: Yanqiu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Environment and Health (HUST), Ministry of Education and Ministry of Environmental Protection, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430000, Hubei, China. panxinyun721@163.com.|State Key Laboratory of Environmental Health (Incubation), School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430000, Hubei, China. panxinyun721@163.com.
authors.forename: Xinyun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Environment and Health (HUST), Ministry of Education and Ministry of Environmental Protection, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430000, Hubei, China. shalovesafin@126.com.|State Key Laboratory of Environmental Health (Incubation), School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430000, Hubei, China. shalovesafin@126.com.
authors.forename: Chuansha
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Environment and Health (HUST), Ministry of Education and Ministry of Environmental Protection, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430000, Hubei, China. wangyoujie@mails.tjmu.edu.cn.|State Key Laboratory of Environmental Health (Incubation), School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430000, Hubei, China. wangyoujie@mails.tjmu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Youjie
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, College for Public Health and Social Justice, Saint Louis University, Saint Louis, MO 63103, USA. zqian2@slu.edu.
authors.forename: Zhengmin
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Qian
authors.affiliation: College of Earth and Environmental Science, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, Gansu, China. aimin_yang@brown.edu.
authors.forename: Aimin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA. megan_romano@brown.edu.
authors.forename: Megan E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Romano
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA. kunchong_shi@brown.edu.
authors.forename: Kunchong
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Environment and Health (HUST), Ministry of Education and Ministry of Environmental Protection, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430000, Hubei, China. xust@hust.edu.cn.|State Key Laboratory of Environmental Health (Incubation), School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430000, Hubei, China. xust@hust.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Shunqing
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Environment and Health (HUST), Ministry of Education and Ministry of Environmental Protection, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430000, Hubei, China. liyuanyuan@hust.edu.cn.|State Key Laboratory of Environmental Health (Incubation), School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430000, Hubei, China. liyuanyuan@hust.edu.cn.|Department of Epidemiology, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA. liyuanyuan@hust.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Yuanyuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001724:Birth Weight / Q000187:drug effects*; D002104:Cadmium / Q000633:toxicity* / Q000652:urine; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D047109:Fetal Development; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D018811:Maternal Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012737:Sex Factors
chemical_list: D002104:Cadmium
keywords: birth weight; cadmium; critical window; epidemiology; fetal exposure