Prenatal chromium exposure and risk of preterm birth: a cohort study in Hubei, China

• Published in: Scientific reports 2017-06, Vol.7 (1), p.3048-8, Article 3048
• Main Authors: Pan, Xinyun, Hu, Jie, Xia, Wei, Zhang, Bin, Liu, Wenyu, Zhang, Chuncao, Yang, Jie, Hu, Chen, Zhou, Aifen, Chen, Zhong, Cao, Jiangxia, Zhang, Yiming, Wang, Youjie, Huang, Zheng, Lv, Bin, Song, Ranran, Zhang, Jianduan, Xu, Shunqing, Li, Yuanyuan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 692/499; 704/172/4081; Adult; Birth; China; Chromium; Chromium - urine; Cohort analysis; Female; Gestational age; Health risk assessment; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; Infant, Newborn; Infant, Premature - urine; Infants; Male; Mass spectrometry; Mass spectroscopy; Maternal Exposure; multidisciplinary; Population studies; Pregnancy; Premature birth; Premature Birth - epidemiology; Prenatal experience; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Studies; Urine
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-03106-z

Few studies have investigated the association of environmental chromium exposure and preterm birth in general population. This study was designed to investigate whether maternal chromium exposure during pregnancy is associated with reduced gestational age or risk of preterm birth using the data from Healthy Baby Cohort study conducted in Hubei, China between 2012 and 2014 (n = 7290). Chromium concentrations in maternal urine samples collected at delivery were measured with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Tertiles of chromium concentrations was negatively associated with gestational age in multivariable linear regression analyses [β (95% CI): low = reference; middle = −0.67 days (−1.14, −0.20); high = −2.30 days (−2.93, −1.67); p trend