Maternal Phthalates Exposure and Blood Pressure during and after Pregnancy in the PROGRESS Study
Haotian Wu, Allison Kupsco, Allan C. Just, Antonia M. Calafat, Emily Oken, Joseph M. Braun, Alison P. Sanders, Adriana Mercado‐García, Alejandra Cantoral, Ivan Pantic, Martha María Téllez‐Rojo, Robert O. Wright, Andrea Baccarelli, Andrea Deierlein
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Phthalate exposure is ubiquitous and may affect biological pathways related to regulators of blood pressure. Given the profound changes in vasculature during pregnancy, pregnant women may be particularly susceptible to the potential effects of phthalates on blood pressure. OBJECTIVES: We examined associations of phthalate exposure during pregnancy with maternal blood pressure trajectories from mid-pregnancy through 72 months postpartum. METHODS: ). Spot urine samples from the second and third trimesters were analyzed for 15 phthalate metabolites. Blood pressure and covariate data were collected over nine visits through 72 months postpartum. We used linear, logistic, and linear mixed models; latent class growth models (LCGMs); and Bayesian kernel machine regression to estimate the relationship of urinary phthalate biomarkers with maternal blood pressure. RESULTS: . DISCUSSION: In our cohort of pregnant women from Mexico City, exposure to phthalates and phthalate biomarkers was associated with higher blood pressure during late pregnancy, as well as with long-term changes in blood pressure trajectories. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP8562.