Maternal concentrations of perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoate (PFOA) and duration of breastfeeding

• Main Authors: Chunyuan Fei, Joseph K McLaughlin, Loren Lipworth, Jørn Olsen
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Nordic Association of Occupational Safety and Health (NOROSH) 2010-09-01
• Series: Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health
• Subjects: infant; breastfeeding; maternal blood; perfluorooctanoate; pfoa; perfluorooctanesulfonate; pfos; perfluorinated chemicals; pfc
• Online Access: https://www.sjweh.fi/show_abstract.php?abstract_id=2908

OBJECTIVE: Perfluorooctanoate (PFOA) has been associated with impaired lactation in mice. We examined whether maternal perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS) and PFOA concentrations correlated with duration of breastfeeding among women. METHODS: We randomly selected 1400 pregnant women from the Danish national birth cohort (1996–2002) and measured PFOS and PFOA concentrations in early pregnancy by using high performance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry. Self-reported data on the duration of any and exclusive breastfeeding were collected twice during telephone interviews around 6 and 18 months after the birth of the child. RESULTS: The duration of breastfeeding decreased with increasing concentrations of pregnancy PFOS and PFOA among multiparous women, for whom the adjusted odds ratios (OR) for weaning before 6 months of age were 1.20 (95% CI 1.06–1.37) per 10 ng/ml increase in PFOS concentrations and 1.23 (95% CI 1.13–1.33) per 1 ng/ml increase in PFOA concentrations. No consistent association was found for primiparous women. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that PFOA and PFOS may reduce the ability to lactate, but could equally reflect reverse causation since no association was seen in primiparous women.