Growing evidence suggests that environmental exposures can influence blood pressure over the course of a lifetime. Exposure to toxic metals has been associated with increased blood pressure in adults, but few studies have examined the impacts of in utero and early life toxic metals exposure on blood pressure in childhood. As subclinical vascular changes are thought to begin early in life, it is possible that in utero toxic metals exposure may play a role in blood pressure homeostasis. As part of the ongoing New Hampshire Birth Cohort Study, we investigated the association between in utero Pb exposure and early childhood measures of blood pressure in 287 children at 5 years of age. Pb was measured in maternal toenail samples collected at 28 weeks gestation and 6 weeks postpartum, which represent exposures ～6 to 9 months prior to collection and therefore reflect the early prenatal and late prenatal exposures, respectively. Blood pressure was assessed as systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), mean arterial pressure (MAP), pulse pressure (PP) and pulse rate, for which 3 to 5 measurements of each were recorded and averaged. In preliminary linear regression analyses, adjusted for child age, sex, height, and weight, we observed that a doubling of maternal prenatal toenail Pb was associated with statistically significant increases in child SBP (0.88 mmHg, 95% CI: 0.13, 1.62), MAP (0.57 mmHg, 95% CI: 0.04, 1.10) and PP (0.59 mmHg, 95% CI: 0.01,1.16). Exploratory analyses stratified by sex suggest that these effects may be stronger among boys, particularly for SBP and MAP. Our preliminary results begin to suggest that in utero Pb exposure may be associated with early life cardiovascular effects in children, which could have consequences for long-term health.
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