Congenital heart diseases and parental occupational exposure in a Hungarian case‐control study in 1997 to 2002

Abstract

The etiology of congenital heart diseases is not fully understood yet, however, endocrine disrupting chemicals may have a causative role in their development. The purpose of our study was to examine the association between congenital heart diseases and periconceptional parental occupational exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals. In our Hungarian population‐based case‐control study, we examined 2263 live born cases with any congenital heart disease and 6789 matched controls selected between years 1997 to 2002. Occupational exposure was assessed with a job‐exposure matrix developed for endocrine disrupting chemicals. Conditional multiple logistic regression analyses were performed to test associations between parental occupational exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals and congenital heart diseases of the offspring as a whole and by congenital heart disease subtypes. The prevalence of exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals was 4.5% for both case and control mothers and 19.1% and 19.4% for case and control fathers, respectively. We found a positive association between paternal pesticide (adjusted odds ratio = 1.66, 95% confidence interval: 1.03‐2.69) and alkylphenolic compound exposure (adjusted odds ratio = 1.95, 95% confidence interval: 1.30‐2.93) and the development of patent ductus arteriosus in the offspring. Alkylphenolic compound exposure occurred among painters, famers, and those working in the food service industry, while pesticide exposure occurred predominantly among farm workers. We identified that certain occupations may increase the occurrence of certain congenital heart disease phenotypes in the offspring. By paying closer attention to those working in these areas, antenatal detection rates of congenital heart diseases may be improved.

Birth defects associated with paternal firefighting in the National Birth Defects Prevention Study

“…9,41 The associations we identified in the current study are plausible given the many exposures firefighters face that could directly or indirectly (i.e., through maternal pathways) increase the risk of adverse birth outcomes in offspring. 14,15,[24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][42][43][44] For example, firefighters are heavily exposed to PAHs as combustion by-products released during fire response and training, [45][46][47][48] and their postfire urinary levels of PAH exposure are significantly higher than levels observed in office workers and the general population. 49 PAH exposure is recognized to impact reproduction and development through male and female reproductive pathways.…”

Exposure to Toxic Agrochemicals and Development of Congenital Malformations: A Scoping Review

“…The largest number of publications was in the years 2014 12,21,[23][24][25]29,32 (n=7), 2020 [10][11]19,[34][35][36] (n=6), 2011 8,15,16,22,27-28 (n=6) and in 2010 7,9,13,18,33 (n=5). As for the country where the studies were developed, most were from the United States 7,11,15,17,19,21,[23][24]26,29,32 , (n=10) followed by studies in Brazil 2,25,38 , (n=3), France 10,14,27 (n=3), India 20,31,16 (n=3) and Mexico 13,18 (n=2) (Chart 1).…”

“…As for the country where the studies were developed, most were from the United States 7,11,15,17,19,21,[23][24]26,29,32 , (n=10) followed by studies in Brazil 2,25,38 , (n=3), France 10,14,27 (n=3), India 20,31,16 (n=3) and Mexico 13,18 (n=2) (Chart 1). For being an inclusion criterion, most of the studies were case-control studies [7][8]10,[26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38] (n=29) and only three studies were cohort 8,10,27 (n=3) (Chart 1). In the 32 studies, the quality of the evidence was considered level 4, that is, with evidence from well-designed cohort and case control studies 6 .…”

“…In addition to malformations related to the reproductive and nervous systems, articles were also found referring to malformations related to fetal growth restrictions (n= 2) 27,31 , to the digestive system (n=3) 29,[32][33] , to the musculoskeletal system (n=1) 26 , to the circulatory system (n=2) 34,36 , and congenital anomalies in general (n=5) 25,27,30,35,37 .…”

“…This research included 32 studies, the quality of the evidence was considered as level 4, that is, with evidence from well-designed cohort and case control studies 6 . Among the papers selected in the research, there are 12 research studies carried out in the USA and 3 in Brazil, showing anomalies related to the reproductive system (hypospadias, cryptochidism and micropenis) [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17] , to the nervous system 12,[18][19][20][21][22][23][24] and other malformations [25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38] .…”