Early-Life Environmental Exposures and Childhood Obesity: An Exposome-Wide Approach

Chemical and nonchemical environmental exposures are increasingly suspected to influence the development of obesity, especially during early life, but studies mostly consider single exposure groups. Our study aimed to systematically assess the association between a wide array of early-life environme...

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Published in:	Environmental health perspectives Vol. 128; no. 6; p. 67009
Main Authors:	Vrijheid, Martine, Fossati, Serena, Maitre, Léa, Márquez, Sandra, Roumeliotaki, Theano, Agier, Lydiane, Andrusaityte, Sandra, Cadiou, Solène, Casas, Maribel, de Castro, Montserrat, Dedele, Audrius, Donaire-Gonzalez, David, Grazuleviciene, Regina, Haug, Line S., McEachan, Rosemary, Meltzer, Helle Margrete, Papadopouplou, Eleni, Robinson, Oliver, Sakhi, Amrit K., Siroux, Valerie, Sunyer, Jordi, Schwarze, Per E., Tamayo-Uria, Ibon, Urquiza, Jose, Vafeiadi, Marina, Valentin, Antonia, Warembourg, Charline, Wright, John, Nieuwenhuijsen, Mark J., Thomsen, Cathrine, Basagaña, Xavier, Slama, Rémy, Chatzi, Leda
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	United States National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences 01.06.2020 Environmental Health Perspectives
Subjects:	Adipose tissue Air Pollutants Air Pollution Air Pollution - statistics & numerical data Algorithms Analysis Biomarkers Birth weight Blood levels Body fat Body Mass Index Body size Body weight Built environment Buses Cesium Chemical pollutants Chemical pollution Child Childhood Children Children & youth Cobalt Collaboration Confidence intervals Cotinine Environmental Exposure Environmental Exposure - statistics & numerical data Environmental Pollutants Environmental Sciences Exposome Exposure Families & family life Female Green infrastructure Heavy metals Humans Indoor environments Life Sciences Male Molybdenum Mothers Nitrogen Dioxide Obesity Obesity - epidemiology Obesity in children Organic compounds Organochlorine pesticides Overweight Passive smoking Persistent organic pollutants Phenols Phthalic Acids Pollutants Population Population density Pregnancy Pregnant women Prenatal experience Prenatal exposure Radiation Santé publique et épidémiologie Skinfold Thickness Smoking Smoking - epidemiology Studies Tobacco Tobacco smoking Urban environments Variables Waist Circumference Greece Norway Spain Europe
ISSN:	0091-6765, 1552-9924, 1552-9924
Online Access:	Get full text
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Summary:	Chemical and nonchemical environmental exposures are increasingly suspected to influence the development of obesity, especially during early life, but studies mostly consider single exposure groups. Our study aimed to systematically assess the association between a wide array of early-life environmental exposures and childhood obesity, using an exposome-wide approach. The HELIX (Human Early Life Exposome) study measured child body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, skinfold thickness, and body fat mass in 1,301 children from six European birth cohorts age 6-11 y. We estimated 77 prenatal exposures and 96 childhood exposures (cross-sectionally), including indoor and outdoor air pollutants, built environment, green spaces, tobacco smoking, and biomarkers of chemical pollutants (persistent organic pollutants, metals, phthalates, phenols, and pesticides). We used an exposure-wide association study (ExWAS) to screen all exposure-outcome associations independently and used the deletion-substitution-addition (DSA) variable selection algorithm to build a final multiexposure model. The prevalence of overweight and obesity combined was 28.8%. Maternal smoking was the only prenatal exposure variable associated with higher child BMI ( -score increase of 0.28, 95% confidence interval: 0.09, 0.48, for active vs. no smoking). For childhood exposures, the multiexposure model identified particulate and nitrogen dioxide air pollution inside the home, urine cotinine levels indicative of secondhand smoke exposure, and residence in more densely populated areas and in areas with fewer facilities to be associated with increased child BMI. Child blood levels of copper and cesium were associated with higher BMI, and levels of organochlorine pollutants, cobalt, and molybdenum were associated with lower BMI. Similar results were found for the other adiposity outcomes. This first comprehensive and systematic analysis of many suspected environmental obesogens strengthens evidence for an association of smoking, air pollution exposure, and characteristics of the built environment with childhood obesity risk. Cross-sectional biomarker results may suffer from reverse causality bias, whereby obesity status influenced the biomarker concentration. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP5975.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 14 content type line 23 PMCID: PMC7313401
ISSN:	0091-6765 1552-9924 1552-9924
DOI:	10.1289/EHP5975