# Environmental chemical exposures during pregnancy and women's cardio-metabolic health

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO DENVER · 2021 · $436,003

## Abstract

Project Summary
While much research has been devoted to exploring the impact of environmental chemical exposures during
pregnancy on infant and child health, relatively little attention has focused on the potential influence of these
exposures on maternal health. Recent evidence suggests that pregnancy may be a sensitive period in the life
course, during which chemical exposures may have long-lasting effects on cardio-metabolic disease risk
among women. Using a well-characterized existing cohort study that enrolled 1,410 pregnant women in 2009-
2014, we propose the following aims: (1) quantify the relationship between environmental exposures during
pregnancy and short-term maternal health outcomes including: postpartum weight retention, reduced
breastfeeding initiation and duration, and incident diabetes; (2) quantify the relationship between environmental
exposures during pregnancy and long-term maternal health outcomes: body composition, weight trajectories
from pregnancy through ~10 years after parturition, hepatic fat, dysglycemia and incident diabetes, and
cardiovascular disease; and (3) evaluate the potential role of maternal characteristics and behaviors during
pregnancy, specifically obesity and diet quality, in modifying associations between environmental chemical
exposures and outcomes. Exposures during pregnancy will include serum per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances
(PFAS), urinary phthalate metabolites, phenols and parabens, metals, organophosphate flame retardants, and
modeled air pollutants at the maternal residential address during pregnancy. We propose to recruit 700 of the
original study participants to return for a follow-up visit at ~10 years postpartum. At this visit, participants will
undergo a comprehensive metabolic health evaluation including body composition via air displacement
plethysmography (BOD POD), dysglycemia via oral glucose tolerance test, and hepatic fat fraction via MRI.
Medical records will be abstracted to document incident diabetes and cardiovascular disease, and to
reconstruct body weight trajectories. We will estimate associations between exposures during pregnancy and
maternal outcomes using covariate-adjusted multivariable regression models for continuous, binary, or time-to-
event data, as appropriate. Exposures will be evaluated as single pollutants and as mixtures using advanced
statistical methods including Bayesian Kernel Machine Regression and Bayesian hierarchical Cox survival
models. We hypothesize that maternal body mass index prior to pregnancy and diet quality during pregnancy
will modify the effects of environmental chemical exposures on cardio-metabolic outcomes, such that
associations will be stronger among women with obesity entering pregnancy or with poor diet quality during
pregnancy. The results of this study will inform public health interventions to identify women who may be
especially susceptible to the effects of environmental chemical exposures during pregnancy, and to improve
the...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10247812
- **Project number:** 5R01ES032213-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO DENVER
- **Principal Investigator:** Dana Dabelea
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $436,003
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-09-01 → 2025-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10247812

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10247812, Environmental chemical exposures during pregnancy and women's cardio-metabolic health (5R01ES032213-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10247812. Licensed CC0.

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