Development of a Phthalate Environmental Reproductive Health Literacy (PERHL) Scale

Tomsho, Kathryn S.; Quinn, Marlee R.; Adamkiewicz, Gary; James-Todd, Tamarra

doi:10.1289/ehp13128

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

References 53 publications

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“…96 97 Between May 2021 and August 2022, we deployed an Environmental Health Literacy (EHL) Questionnaire to ERGO participants who were at least a year postpartum, as part of a Harvard National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences centre-funded pilot study (P30ES000002). 98 The EHL Questionnaire included sections related to participants' views on the environment (eg, phthalate exposure) and reproductive health, comfort with medical communications and personal health habits.…”

Section: Open Accessmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cohort profile: the Environmental Reproductive and Glucose Outcomes (ERGO) Study (Boston, Massachusetts, USA) — a prospective pregnancy cohort study of the impacts of environmental exposures on parental cardiometabolic health

Preston,

Quinn,

Williams

et al. 2024

BMJ Open

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PurposePregnancy and the postpartum period are increasingly recognised as sensitive windows for cardiometabolic disease risk. Growing evidence suggests environmental exposures, including endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), are associated with an increased risk of pregnancy complications that are associated with long-term cardiometabolic risk. However, the impact of perinatal EDC exposure on subsequent cardiometabolic risk post-pregnancy is less understood. The Environmental Reproductive and Glucose Outcomes (ERGO) Study was established to investigate the associations of environmental exposures during the perinatal period with post-pregnancy parental cardiometabolic health.ParticipantsPregnant individuals aged ≥18 years without pre-existing diabetes were recruited at <15 weeks of gestation from Boston, Massachusetts area hospitals. Participants completed ≤4 prenatal study visits (median: 12, 19, 26, 36 weeks of gestation) and 1 postpartum visit (median: 9 weeks), during which we collected biospecimens, health histories, demographic and behavioural data, and vitals and anthropometric measurements. Participants completed a postpartum fasting 2-hour 75 g oral glucose tolerance test. Clinical data were abstracted from electronic medical records. Ongoing (as of 2024) extended post-pregnancy follow-up visits occur annually following similar data collection protocols.Findings to dateWe enrolled 653 unique pregnancies and retained 633 through delivery. Participants had a mean age of 33 years, 10% (n=61) developed gestational diabetes and 8% (n=50) developed pre-eclampsia. Participant pregnancy and postpartum urinary phthalate metabolite concentrations and postpartum glycaemic biomarkers were quantified. To date, studies within ERGO found higher exposure to phthalates and phthalate mixtures, and separately, higher exposure to radioactive ambient particulate matter, were associated with adverse gestational glycaemic outcomes. Additionally, certain personal care products used in pregnancy, notably hair oils, were associated with higher urinary phthalate metabolite concentrations, earlier gestational age at delivery and lower birth weight.Future plansFuture work will leverage the longitudinal data collected on pregnancy and cardiometabolic outcomes, environmental exposures, questionnaires, banked biospecimens and paediatric data within the ERGO Study.

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Section: Open Accessmentioning

confidence: 99%