Association of prenatal pesticide exposures with adverse pregnancy outcomes and stunting in rural Bangladesh

Abstract Background Pesticide exposure during pregnancy is thought to adversely affect fetal growth, which in turn may impact child growth, but results have been inconsistent across studies and few have explored these effects in developing countries. Objectives To quantify urinary concentrations of pesticide biomarkers in early pregnancy ( Methods Eight pesticide biomarkers were quantified in urine collected from 289 pregnant women (aged 18–40 years) participating in a birth cohort study in Bangladesh. Anthropometry measurements were conducted on the index child at birth and approximately 1 and 2 years of age. A directed acyclic graph was used to identify minimal sufficient adjustment sets. Log-binomial regression was used to estimate the relative risk (RR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI). Results 3,5,6-trichloro-2-pyridinol (TCPY), a metabolite of chlorpyrifos and chlorpyrifos methyl, and 4-nitrophenol, a metabolite of parathion and methyl parathion, were detected in nearly all women with geometric mean (95% CI) values of 3.17 (2.82–3.56) and 18.66 (17.03–20.46) µg/g creatinine, respectively. 3-phenoxybenzoic acid (3-PBA), a non-specific metabolite of several pyrethroids, and 2-isopropyl-4-methyl-6-hydroxypyrimidine (IMPY), a diazinon metabolite, were detected in 19.8% and 16.1% of women, respectively. The remaining four pesticide biomarkers were detected in Discussion Exposure to the insecticides parathion and diazinon during early pregnancy may increase the risk of adverse birth outcomes.