Associations of PFAS concentrations during pregnancy and midlife with bone health in midlife: Cross-sectional and prospective findings from Project Viva.

Background: PFAS may impair bone health, but effects of PFAS exposure assessed during pregnancy and the perimenopause-life stages marked by rapidly changing bone metabolism-on later life bone health are unknown.

Methods: We studied 531 women in the Boston-area Project Viva cohort. We used multivariable linear, generalized additive, and mixture models to examine associations of plasma PFAS concentrations during early pregnancy [median (IQR) maternal age 32.

A Call for Pediatric Clinicians to Address Environmental Health Concerns in Rural Settings.

Children in rural communities encounter unique environmental exposures, many of which can result in negative long-term health consequences. Children are particularly at risk from these exposures due to their close interaction with the environment and developing physiology. The authors describe 3 rural environmental hazards: wood stove smoke, well water contaminants, and agricultural pollutants.

Associations of ethnicity, skin tone, and genome-wide sequencing with bone mineral density in adolescents.

Background: Dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry reference data designate Black and non-Black categories, as higher BMD has been documented among Black youth. We examined associations of race, skin tone, and genetic factors with bone mineral density (BMD).

Methods: 557 adolescents were followed longitudinally.

Plasma concentrations of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in pregnancy and breastfeeding duration in Project Viva.

Background: Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) may disrupt mammary gland development and function; thereby inhibiting milk supply and breastfeeding duration. However, conclusions on the potential effects of PFAS and breastfeeding duration are limited by prior epidemiologic studies that inconsistently adjusted for past cumulative breastfeeding duration and by a lack of examination of the joint effects of PFAS mixtures.

Methods: In Project Viva, a longitudinal cohort that enrolled pregnant participants from 1999 to 2002 in the greater Boston, MA area, we studied 1079 women who ever attempted to lactate.

Associations of urinary metabolite concentrations of phthalates and phthalate replacements with body composition from mid-childhood to early adolescence.

Background: Phthalates may adversely influence body composition by lowering anabolic hormones and activating peroxisome-proliferator activated receptor gamma. However, data are limited in adolescence when body mass distributions rapidly change and bone accrual peaks. Also, potential health effects of certain phthalate/replacements [e.

Early pregnancy essential and non-essential metal mixtures and maternal antepartum and postpartum depressive symptoms.

Background: Mood disorders are common during and after pregnancy, and environmental metals may contribute to increased risk. Antepartum metal exposures have not been well characterized in relation to maternal depression. We evaluated the extent to which early pregnancy erythrocyte concentrations of essential and non-essential metals were prospectively associated with antepartum and postpartum depressive symptoms.

Prenatal exposure to a mixture of organochlorines and metals and internalizing symptoms in childhood and adolescence.

Background: Although prenatal chemical exposures influence neurobehavior, joint exposures are not well explored as risk factors for internalizing disorders through adolescence.

Objective: To evaluate associations of prenatal organochlorine and metal exposures, considered individually and as a mixture, with mid-childhood and adolescent internalizing symptoms.

Methods: Participants were 468 children from a prospective cohort recruited at birth (1993-1998) in New Bedford, Massachusetts.

Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substance Plasma Concentrations and Bone Mineral Density in Midchildhood: A Cross-Sectional Study (Project Viva, United States).

Background: Identifying factors that impair bone accrual during childhood is a critical step toward osteoporosis prevention. Exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) has been associated with lower bone mineral density, but data are limited, particularly in children.

Methods: We studied 576 children in Project Viva, a Boston-area cohort of mother/child pairs recruited prenatally from 1999 to 2002.

Residential wood stove use and indoor exposure to PM and its components in Northern New England.

Background: Residential wood stove use has become more prevalent in high-income countries, but only limited data exist on indoor exposure to PM and its components.

Methods: From 2014 to 2016, we collected 7-day indoor air samples in 137 homes of pregnant women in Northern New England, using a micro-environmental monitor. We examined associations of wood stove use with PM mass and its components [black carbon (BC), organic and elemental carbon and their fractions, and trace elements], adjusted for sampling season, community wood stove use, and indoor activities.

Cumulative exposure to environmental pollutants during early pregnancy and reduced fetal growth: the Project Viva cohort.

Background: Reduced fetal growth is associated with perinatal and later morbidity. Prenatal exposure to environmental pollutants is linked to reduced fetal growth at birth, but the impact of concomitant exposure to multiple pollutants is unclear. The purpose of this study was to examine interactions between early pregnancy exposure to cigarette smoke, traffic pollution, and select perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) on birth weight-for-gestational age (BW/GA).

Wood Stove Pollution in the Developed World: A Case to Raise Awareness Among Pediatricians.

Use of wood for residential heating is regaining popularity in developed countries. Currently, over 11 million US homes are heated with a wood stove. Although wood stoves reduce heating costs, wood smoke may adversely impact child health through the emission of gaseous and particulate air pollutants.

Contaminated turmeric is a potential source of lead exposure for children in rural Bangladesh.

Background: During the conduct of a cohort study intended to study the associations between mixed metal exposures and child health outcomes, we found that 78% of 309 children aged 20-40 months evaluated in the Munshiganj District of Bangladesh had blood lead concentrations ≥5 µg/dL and 27% had concentrations ≥10 µg/dL.

Hypothesis: Environmental sources such as spices (e.g.