Low-level environmental metals and metalloids and incident pregnancy loss.
Environmental exposure to metals and metalloids is associated with pregnancy loss in some but not all studies. We assessed arsenic, cadmium, mercury, and lead concentrations in 501 couples upon trying for pregnancy and followed them throughout pregnancy to estimate the risk of incident pregnancy loss. Using Cox proportional hazard models, we estimated hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for pregnancy loss after covariate adjustment for each partner modeled individually then we jointly modeled both partners' concentrations. Incidence of pregnancy loss was 28%. In individual partner models, the highest adjusted HRs were observed for female and male blood cadmium (HR=1.08; CI 0.81, 1.44; HR=1.09; 95% CI 0.84, 1.41, respectively). In couple based models, neither partner's blood cadmium concentrations were associated with loss (HR=1.01; 95% CI 0.75, 1.37; HR=0.92; CI 0.68, 1.25, respectively). We observed no evidence of a significant relation between metal(loids) at these environmentally relevant concentrations and pregnancy loss.
Office of the Director, Division of Intramural Population Health Research, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Rockville, MD 20852, USA. Electronic address: louisg@mail.nih.gov.
Germaine M
GM
Buck Louis
Office of the Director, Division of Intramural Population Health Research, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Rockville, MD 20852, USA. Electronic address: Melissa.smarr@nih.gov.
Melissa M
MM
Smarr
Biostatistics and Bioinformatics Branch, Division of Intramural Population Health Research, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Rockville, MD 20852, USA. Electronic address: Sundaramr2@mail.nih.gov.
Rajeshwari
R
Sundaram
Laboratory of Inorganic and Nuclear Chemistry, Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health, Albany, NY 12201-0509 USA. Electronic address: amy.steuwerwald@health.ny.gov.
Amy J
AJ
Steuerwald
Office of the Director, Division of Intramural Population Health Research, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Rockville, MD 20852, USA. Electronic address: kjs2004@med.cornell.edu.
Katherine J
KJ
Sapra
Glotech, Inc., Rockville, MD 20852, USA. Electronic address: luz5@mail.nih.gov.
Zhaohui
Z
Lu
Laboratory of Inorganic and Nuclear Chemistry, Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health, Albany, NY 12201-0509 USA; Department of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, The University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, NY 12201-0509 USA. Electronic address: patrick.parsons@health.ny.gov.
Patrick J
PJ
Parsons
D000022:Abortion, Spontaneous / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001151:Arsenic / Q000097:blood; D002104:Cadmium / Q000097:blood; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000032:analysis; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007854:Lead / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D018811:Maternal Exposure; D008628:Mercury / Q000097:blood; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D018812:Paternal Exposure; D011247:Pregnancy / Q000097:blood*; D055815:Young Adult
D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D002104:Cadmium; D007854:Lead; D008628:Mercury; D001151:Arsenic
Arsenic; Cadmium; Epidemiology; Lead; Mercury; Miscarriage; Pregnancy; Spontaneous abortion