Elsevier

Chemosphere

Volume 40, Issues 9–11, May–June 2000, Pages 1255-1262
Chemosphere

Lowered birth weight among infants born to women with a high intake of fish contaminated with persistent organochlorine compounds

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0045-6535(99)00377-XGet rights and content

Abstract

In Sweden fatty fish from the Baltic Sea (at the Swedish east coast) constitute the main exposure route for persistent organochlorine compounds (POC). The present study assessed reproductive outcomes among fishermen’s sisters from the Swedish east coast, who were shown to had had a relatively high consumption of contaminated fish in early life. For relevant comparison, we used a similar cohort from the Swedish west coast, where the contamination of fish is considerable less. The east coast cohort women had an increased risk of having an infant with low birth weight (LBW; <2500 g) as compared with the west coast cohort women (odds ratio (OR) 1.6. 95% confidence interval 1.1–2.3). The results strengthen the hypothesized association between exposure to POC during childhood and adolescence and an increased risk for LBW.

Introduction

Persistent organochlorine compounds (POC), e.g., polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB), polychlorinated dibenzo-P-dioxins (PCDD) and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDF), are lipophilic pollutants which accumulate in the food chain. These compounds have been associated with various health hazards, such as cancer, and immunotoxic and reproductive effects Peterson et al., 1993, Brouwer et al., 1995. In certain geographical areas the main route for human exposure is through consumption of contaminated fish. In Sweden, a high intake of fatty fish from the Baltic Sea (on the eastern coast) constitute such exposure Svensson et al., 1991, Svensson et al., 1995b, Asplund et al., 1994. The concentrations of PCB in plasma has been shown to be higher among women with relatively high intake of fish from the Baltic Sea as compared with women from the Swedish inland with only a modest intake of such fish Grimvall et al., 1997, Rylander et al., 1997.

Interviews with fishermen’s wives from the Swedish east and west coasts indicated that both groups on an average ate locally caught fish at least twice as often as women from the general population Rylander et al., 1995, Rylander and Hagmar, 1995. The fatty fish from the Swedish west coast has, however, been much less contaminated with POC during the last decades (Bergqvist et al., 1989). The hypothesis of an association between exposure to POC and reproductive outcomes was examined among cohorts of infants born to fishermen’s wives during the period 1973–1991 Rylander et al., 1995, Rylander and Hagmar, 1999. Infants from the east coast cohort did not have an increased risk for perinatal death or congenital malformations, but for lower birth weight, as compared with infants from the west coast cohort. A nested case-control study within the east coast cohort indicated an increased risk of lower birth weight among infants born to mothers who reported a relatively high current intake of fish from the Baltic Sea (Rylander et al., 1996), as well as among infants born to mothers with a relatively high concentration of 2,2′,4,4′,5,5′-hexachlorobiphenyl (CB-153) in plasma (Rylander et al., 1998b). Moreover, an increased risk for lower birth weight was observed also among infants born to mothers who had grown up in a fishing village (Rylander et al., 1996). This latter exposure variable may be interpreted as an indirect measure of a mother’s accumulated consumption of fish from the Baltic Sea. Interviews with fishermen’s wives showed that they, to a lesser degree, had grown up in a fishing village than their husbands. This observation suggested that the sisters of the fishermen, due to a probably high fish consumption during childhood and adolescence, may constitute a proper alternative study population with respect to reproductive health effects. The concentration of POC in Baltic Sea fish has decreased during the last decades (Bignert et al., 1998), but as many POC congeners have extremely long biological half-lives, a high consumption of Baltic Sea fish during childhood and adolescence will have resulted in a high body burden of POC during a long period thereafter.

The aims of the present study were to investigate whether fishermen’s sisters from the Swedish east coast had a relatively high intake of POC polluted fish from the Baltic Sea and unfavorable reproductive outcomes.

Section snippets

Cohorts of mothers and children

Two cohorts of professional fishermen from the Swedish east and west coasts have been established Hagmar et al., 1992, Svensson et al., 1995a. By linkage to the national Swedish population register, we identified sisters to these fishermen. Sisters who were, or had been, married to a fisherman were excluded. The cohort of sisters were linked to the Swedish Medical Birth Register (MBR), which includes almost every infant born in Sweden since 1973. The MBR is based on copies of record forms for

Fish consumption

Both the interviewed east and west coast cohort women reported both a more frequent current intake of locally caught fish, and an even higher intake of such fish 10–20 yr ago, as compared with their referents Table 2, Table 3. The most common reported reason why the sisters had changed their fish consumption habits was change of residence (38% among the east coast sisters and 53% among the west coast sisters). Other reasons reported were for instance change of work, marriage, illness, and

Discussion

The main findings in the present study were increased risks among fishermen’s sisters from the Swedish east coast of having infants with LBW and being SGA.

The quality of the MBR birth weight data is considered to be good, whereas it is more difficult to get reliable estimates of the gestational length (Cnattingius et al., 1990). Thus, additional caution has to be taken when interpreting the SGA results. However, the lack of good gestational length data probably cause a non-differential

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Professor Bengt Källén at the National Board of Health, Stockholm, for linkage to the Medical Birth Register, and the Registry of Congenital Malformations. We are also indebted to Ms Ulrika Wallin and Ms Siv Nilsson for performing the dietary interviews. This work was financed by grants from the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Environmental Research, Swedish National Environmental Protection Board, the Swedish Work Life Council, and the Medical Faculty, Lund University.

References (32)

  • Grimvall, E., Rylander, L., Nilsson-Ehle, P., Nilsson, U., Strömberg, U., Hagmar, L. et al., 1997. Monitoring of...
  • Hagmar, L., Lindén, K., Nilsson, A., Norving, B., Åkesson, B., Schütz, A. et al., 1992. Cancer incidence and mortality...
  • S.W. Jacobson et al.

    The effect of intrauterine PCB exposure on visual recognition memory

    Child Dev.

    (1985)
  • B. Källén

    A birth weight for gestational age standard based on data in the Swedish medical birth registry, 1985–1989

    Eur. J. Epidemiol.

    (1995)
  • B. Källén

    Epidemiology of Human Reproduction

    (1988)
  • S. Patandin et al.

    Effects of environmental exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls and dioxins on birth size and growth in Dutch children

    Pediatr. Res.

    (1998)
  • Cited by (78)

    • Effects of in utero exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls, methylmercury, and polyunsaturated fatty acids on birth size

      2015, Science of the Total Environment
      Citation Excerpt :

      In Japan, public health concerns have been raised about a marked increase in the prevalence of babies with low birth weight, from 4.2% to 8.3% between 1980 and 2000 (Takimoto et al., 2005). Birth cohort studies reported discrepant findings about the association between maternal intake of fish/seafood during pregnancy and birth size: some found a significant positive association (Olsen et al., 1990, 1993; Olsen and Secher, 2002; Thorsdottir et al., 2004; Drouillet-Pinard et al., 2010; Brantsaeter et al., 2012; Leventakou et al., 2014), whereas others found a null or negative association (Rylander et al., 2000; Oken et al., 2004; Guldner et al., 2007; Halldorsson et al., 2007; Mendez et al., 2010; Heppe et al., 2011). A plausible explanation is that fish/seafood is a nutrient source of polyunsaturated fatty acids for the mother and, at the same time, exposes the fetus to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) (Grandjean et al., 2001; Halldorsson et al., 2008; Papadopoulou et al., 2013) and methylmercury (MeHg) (Drouillet-Pinard et al., 2010; van Wijngaarden et al., 2014; Vejrup et al., 2014).

    View all citing articles on Scopus
    View full text