%0 Journal Article %T Organophosphate ester flame retardant chemicals and maternal depression during pregnancy. %A Hernandez-Castro I %A Eckel SP %A Howe CG %A Aung MT %A Kannan K %A Robinson M %A Foley HB %A Yang T %A Vigil MJ %A Chen X %A Grubbs B %A Al-Marayati L %A Toledo-Corral CM %A Habre R %A Dunton GF %A Farzan SF %A Morales S %A Breton CV %A Bastain TM %J Environ Res %V 259 %N 0 %D 2024 Oct 15 %M 38992754 %F 8.431 %R 10.1016/j.envres.2024.119581 %X BACKGROUND: Depression substantially contributes to pregnancy-related morbidity, and pregnancy is increasingly recognized as a vulnerable window for exposure effects on maternal mental health. Exposures to organophosphate esters (OPEs) are ubiquitous and may have neurotoxic effects; however, their impacts on prenatal depression remain unknown. We evaluated associations of third trimester OPE metabolites on maternal depressive symptoms during pregnancy.
METHODS: This study included 422 participants in the Maternal and Developmental Risks from Environmental and Social Stressors (MADRES) cohort, a prospective pregnancy cohort of primarily low-income and Hispanic participants residing in Los Angeles, California. We measured concentrations of nine OPEs in third trimester spot urine samples (mean gestational age = 31.5 ± 2.0 weeks). Using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression (CES-D) scale, we classified participants as having probable depression during pregnancy (N = 137) or not (N = 285) if one or more CES-D scores administered at each trimester met the suggested cutoff score for clinically significant depressive symptoms (≥16). We estimated associations of prenatal OPE metabolite concentrations in tertiles and risk of prenatal depression using modified Log-Poisson regression. We examined associations of the OPE mixture on depression during pregnancy using Bayesian kernel machine regression (BKMR).
RESULTS: Participants with the highest tertiles of DPHP and BDCIPP exposure had a 67% (95% CI: 22%, 128%) and 47% (95% CI: 4%, 108%) increased risk of maternal depressive symptoms during pregnancy, respectively. No associations between other OPE metabolites and maternal depression symptoms were observed. In mixture analyses, we observed a positive and linear association between higher exposure to the OPE metabolite mixture and odds of prenatal maternal depression, primarily driven by DPHP.
CONCLUSIONS: Our findings provide new evidence of associations between frequently detected OPE metabolites on maternal depression symptoms during pregnancy. Results could inform future intervention efforts aimed at reducing perinatal maternal depression.