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BACKGROUND: Telomere length (TL) is a marker of biological aging and is inversely related to aging-related diseases. The setting of TL at birth may have important implications for lifelong telomere dynamics; however, its determinants remain poorly understood.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of our study was to explore the relationships between prenatal exposure to phthalates and umbilical cord blood TL.

METHODS: A total of 762 mother-newborn pairs were recruited from a birth cohort study performed between November 2013 and March 2015 in Wuhan, China. Relative cord blood TL was measured using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. Six phthalate metabolites were measured in urine samples acquired from pregnant women during the three trimesters. Multiple informant models were applied to estimate the associations between prenatal exposure to phthalates and cord blood TL. and to evaluate potential windows of vulnerability.

RESULTS: Exposure to mono-ethyl phthalate (MEP), mono(2-ethyl-5-carboxypentyl) phthalate (MECPP), mono(2-ethyl-5-oxohexyl) phthalate (MEOHP), mono(2-ethyl-5-hydroxyhexyl) phthalate (MEHHP), mono-butyl phthalate (MBP), and di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (Sigma DEHP) during the first trimester were inversely related to cord blood TL. In addition, we observed a female-specific association between maternal exposure to MEP during the first trimester and cord blood TL (p(sex-int) =0.03). The associations between maternal exposure to MECPP, MEHHP, MEOHP, and Sigma DEHP during the first trimester and cord blood TL were consistent between males and females (all p(sex-int) > 0.10).

CONCLUSION: This prospective study demonstrated that prenatal exposure to some phthalate metabolites were associated with shorter cord blood TL. Our results, if confirmed in other populations, may provide more evidence of adverse health outcomes of phthalate exposure and support the hypothesis that the intrauterine environment may be one of the major determinants for newborn TL.