Associations of prenatal per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance exposure with neonatal birth weight z-scores: The potential mediating role of maternal glucose homeostasis.

In 642 mother–infant pairs from Ma’anshan, China, prenatal PFAS exposure is linked to lower neonatal birth weight z-scores, especially in female infants, with mediation via fasting plasma glucose for PFNA and 8:2 Cl-PFESA.

• Why it matters: Evidence on how PFAS mixtures affect fetal growth and whether maternal glucose homeostasis explains these links is still limited.
• What they did: Using multivariable linear regression, weighted quantile sum regression, and Bayesian kernel machine regression, the study related individual PFAS and PFAS mixtures to neonatal BW-z and maternal glucose measures, then tested sex differences and mediation through fasting plasma glucose.
• The result: PFNA, PFDA, PFOS, L-PFHxS, 6:2 Cl-PFESA, and 8:2 Cl-PFESA were negatively associated with BW-z, and the PFAS mixture showed an overall negative association; fasting plasma glucose was positively associated with BW-z, with indirect effects of 11.5% for 8:2 Cl-PFESA and 9.5% for PFNA.

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