Environmental Chemicals in the Blood of Pregnant Women and Their Newborns from San Francisco

Prenatal chemicals exposure can adversely affect development, yet we lack data to characterize relationships between maternal and fetal exposures for many chemicals. We analyzed 65 matched maternal and cord blood from pregnant women in San Francisco for 59 analytes: 19 polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), 4 hydroxylated PBDE metabolites, 15 polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), 7 organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), 11 perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) and 3 metals. We calculated summary statistics, correlation coefficients, and ratios of analyte concentrations in cord and maternal blood after logarithmic transformation, and using imputed values as needed. Our population consisted primarily of Latina, low income women (2/3 foreign born). We detected a median of 37 chemicals in maternal blood (range 27-45, or 46% to 76% of the 59 chemicals tested). We detected 18 chemicals in 90% or more of the pregnant women, including BDEs (47, 99, 100, 153), PCBs (74, 138, 153, 180, 187), OCPs (DDE, HCB), PFCs (Me-PFOSA, PFNA...