{"doi":"10.1016/j.envres.2023.115233","title":"Prenatal perfluoroalkyl substances exposure and maternal sex steroid hormones across pregnancy","abstract":"BACKGROUND: Poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are ubiquitous and persistent environmental contaminants that may act as endocrine disruptors in utero, but the specific endocrine pathways are unknown. OBJECTIVE: We examined associations between maternal serum PFAS and sex steroid hormones at three time points during pregnancy. METHODS: Pregnant women participating in the Understanding Pregnancy Signals and Infant Development (UPSIDE) study contributed biospecimens, questionnaire, and medical record data in each trimester (n = 285). PFAS (including perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS), perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (PFHxS), perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA) and perfluorodecanoic acid (PFDA)) were analyzed in second-trimester serum samples by high-performance liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Total testosterone [TT], free testosterone [fT], estrone [E1], estradiol [E2], and estriol [E3]) were measured by LC-MS/MS in serum samples from each trimester. Linear mixed models with random intercepts were used to examine associations between log-transformed PFAS concentrations and hormone levels, adjusting for covariates, and stratifying by fetal sex. Results are presented as the mean percentage difference (Δ%) in hormone levels per ln-unit increase in PFAS concentration. RESULTS: In adjusted models, PFHxS was associated with higher TT (%Δ = 20.0, 95%CI: 1.7, 41.6), particularly among women carrying male fetuses (%Δ = 15.3, 95%CI: 1.2, 30.7); this association strengthened as the pregnancy progressed. PFNA (%Δ = 7.9, 95%CI: 3.4, 12.5) and PFDA (%Δ = 7.2, 95%CI: 4.9, 9.7) were associated with higher fT, with associations again observed only in women carrying male fetuses. PFHxS was associated with higher levels of E2 and E3 in women carrying female fetuses (%Δ = 13.2, 95%CI: 0.5, 29.1; %Δ = 17.9, 95%CI: 3.2, 34.8, respectively). No associations were observed for PFOS and PFOA. CONCLUSION: PFHxS, PFNA, and PFDA may disrupt androgenic and estrogenic pathways in pregnancy in a sex-dependent manner.","journal":"Environmental Research","year":2023,"id":319058,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":58,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9346,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2023-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":724504,"name":"Carolyn Waugh Kinkade","orcid":"0000-0002-8549-5553","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":662686,"name":"Leena Khoury","orcid":null,"position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":661945,"name":"Jessica Brunner","orcid":"0009-0003-3882-1138","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":661951,"name":"Hannah R. Murphy","orcid":"0000-0001-6209-5883","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":278839,"name":"Christina Wang","orcid":"0000-0002-8231-792X","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":291977,"name":"Kurunthachalam Kannan","orcid":"0000-0002-1926-7456","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":661950,"name":"Richard K. Miller","orcid":"0000-0002-6691-7538","position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":271737,"name":"Thomas G. O’Connor","orcid":"0000-0002-8590-5057","position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":228378,"name":"Emily S. Barrett","orcid":"0000-0001-9463-524X","position":9,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":332121,"name":"Zorimar Rivera‐Núñez","orcid":"0000-0002-0718-1807","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":85,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T01:07:06.454099Z","pmid":"36621543","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}