Prenatal Exposure to the Pesticide DDT and Hypertension Diagnosed in Women before Age 50: A Longitudinal Birth Cohort Study

Abstract

Background: Elevated levels of the pesticide DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) have been positively associated with blood pressure and hypertension in studies among adults. Accumulating epidemiologic and toxicologic evidence suggests that hypertension during adulthood may also be affected by earlier life and possibly the prenatal environment.Objectives: We assessed whether prenatal exposure to the pesticide DDT increases risk of adult hypertension.Methods: We examined concentrations of DDT (p,p´- and o,p´-) and its metabolite p,p´-DDE (dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene) in prenatal serum samples from a subset of women (n = 527) who had participated in the prospective Child Health and Development Studies birth cohort in the San Francisco Bay area while they were pregnant between 1959 and 1967. We surveyed daughters 39–47 years of age by telephone interview from 2005 to 2008 to obtain information on self-reported physician-diagnosed hypertension and use of hypertensive medication. We used multivariable regression analysis of time to hypertension based on the Cox proportional hazards model to estimate relative rates for the association between prenatal DDT exposures and hypertension treated with medication in adulthood, with adjustment for potential confounding by maternal, early-life, and adult exposures.Results: Prenatal p,p´-DDT exposure was associated with hypertension [adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) = 3.6; 95% CI: 1.8, 7.2 and aHR = 2.5; 95% CI: 1.2, 5.3 for middle and high tertiles of p,p´-DDT relative to the lowest tertile, respectively]. These associations between p,p´-DDT and hypertension were robust to adjustment for independent hypertension risk factors as well as sensitivity analyses.Conclusions: These findings suggest that the association between DDT exposure and hypertension may have its origins early in development.

Perinatal DDT Exposure Induces Hypertension and Cardiac Hypertrophy in Adult Mice

“…For example, prenatal exposure to the pesticide dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) is associated with increased medicated hypertension in adult women (La Merrill et al 2013), and prenatal exposure to its metabolite dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (DDE) is associated with elevated blood pressure in 4-year-old children (Vafeiadi et al 2015). However, whether the DDT or DDE burden in adults is associated with hypertension remains somewhat controversial because some studies do (Henríquez-Hernández et al 2014; Lind et al 2014; Siddiqui et al 2002), and some studies do not, report an association between DDT burden and hypertension in adult offspring (Goncharov et al 2011; Savitz et al 2014; Valera et al 2013).…”

Internal exposure to organochlorine pollutants and cadmium and self-reported health status: A prospective study

“…Positive associations between p,p -DDE and hypertension were described by Valera et al (2013) and Lind et al (2014). Moreover La Merrill et al (2013) found a positive association between prenatal exposure to DDT and hypertension. We found a gender difference with respect to the association between p,p -DDE and "Hypertension", similar to the gender difference found concerning "Diabetes", with only in men a significant positive association.…”

Early-life risk factors for chronic nonrespiratory diseases

“…Fewer studies of environment contributions to CVD risks have focused on early-life exposures beyond the relationships with development of obesity. However, LAMERRILL et al [107] found that prenatal exposure to DDT and its metabolites was associated with an increased risk of hypertension at ages 37-47 years. A recent study that combined data from the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns study (Finland) with the Childhood Determinants of Adult Health Study (Tasmania, Australia) demonstrated that exposure to parental smoking during childhood or adolescence was associated with greater carotid intima-media thickness up to 25 years later [108].…”