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Effect of maternal thallium exposure in early pregnancy on the risk of preterm birth

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Abstract

Human activities have significantly increased the release of thallium (Tl) to the environment. However, the study of the relationship between maternal Tl exposure during pregnancy and the risk of preterm birth (PTB) is scarce so far. We aimed to investigate the association between Tl exposure in early pregnancy and the risk of PTB. A total of 2104 pregnant women from the Tongji Maternal and Child Health Cohort (TMCHC) in Wuhan, China were enrolled in the analysis. We collected the urine samples in early pregnancy (< 20 weeks) and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) was used to detect urinary Tl levels. The association between Tl levels and the risk of PTB was evaluated by an unconditional logistic regression. The median and geometric mean values of Tl levels were 0.35 μg/L (0.47 μg/g creatinine) and 0.33 μg/L (0.47 μg/g creatinine), respectively. Compared with the lowest tertile of Tl levels (≤ 0.37 μg/g creatinine), the highest tertile (> 0.57 μg/g creatinine) was associated with an increased risk of PTB with an adjusted odds ratio (OR) of 2.11 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.08, 4.12). Stratified analyses showed an elevated risk of PTB related to the highest tertile of Tl levels for male newborns. After excluding women with miss covariate information, gestational diabetes mellitus, pregnancy-induced hypertension, reporting fish intake, or exposed to smoke, the association remained stable. Our results suggested that maternal Tl exposure during early pregnancy was positively associated with the risk of PTB, and Tl exposure may have a sex-specific effect on PTB.

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Data availability

The datasets used and analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank all the participants and staff in the TMCHC for their valuable contributions.

Funding

This work was supported by the National Program on Basic Research Project of China (NO.2013FY114200) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (HUST2019kfyXMPY008).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Nutrition and Food Hygiene, Hubei Key Laboratory of Food Nutrition and Safety, MOE Key Laboratory of Environment and Health, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, 430030, People’s Republic of China

    Xi Chen, Li Huang, Qian Li, Xu Zhang, Xiaoyi Wang, Xuefeng Yang, Liping Hao & Nianhong Yang

  2. Maternal and Child Health Hospital of Hubei Province, Wuhan, Hubei, 430070, People’s Republic of China

    Guoqiang Sun & Nianhua Yi

  3. The Central Hospital of Wuhan, Wuhan, Hubei, 430013, People’s Republic of China

    Guoping Xiong

  4. Hubei Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Wuhan, Hubei, 430079, People’s Republic of China

    Hongying Yang

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  1. Xi Chen
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  2. Li Huang
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  3. Qian Li
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  4. Xu Zhang
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  11. Hongying Yang
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Contributions

NY conceived the idea for TMCHC and managed the project. XC, LH, QL, XZ, XW, GS, NY, GX, XY, LH, HY, and NY conducted the survey and collected data in Wuhan, China. XC contributed to statistical analysis and wrote the manuscript. NY participated in the discussions concerning the design, interpretation of results, and revision of the paper. All authors contributed to the final approval of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nianhong Yang.

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The study was approved by the Ethics Review Committee of Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology (NO. 201302). Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Chen, X., Huang, L., Li, Q. et al. Effect of maternal thallium exposure in early pregnancy on the risk of preterm birth. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 49966–49975 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-19332-6

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