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Does area deprivation modify the association between exposure to a nitrate and low-dose atrazine metabolite mixture in drinking water and small for gestational age? A historic cohort study

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Abstract

Birth weight may be influenced by environmental and socio-economic factors that could interact. The main objective of our research was to investigate whether area deprivation may modify the association between drinking water exposure to a mixture of atrazine metabolites and nitrates during the second trimester of pregnancy and prevalence of small for gestational age (SGA) neonates. We conducted a historic cohort study in Deux-Sèvres, France between 2005 and 2010, using birth records, population census and regularly performed drinking water withdrawals at community water systems. Exposure to an atrazine metabolite/nitrate mixture in drinking water was divided into six classes according to the presence or absence of atrazine metabolites and to the terciles of nitrate concentrations in each trimester of pregnancy. We used a logistic regression to model the association between SGA and mixture exposure at the second trimester while taking into account the area deprivation measured by the Townsend index as an effect modifier and controlling for the usual confounders. We included 10,784 woman–neonate couples. The risk of SGA when exposed to second tercile of nitrate without atrazine metabolites was significantly greater in women living in less deprived areas (OR = 2.99; 95 % CI (1.14, 7.89)), whereas it was not significant in moderately and more deprived areas. One of the arguments used to explain this result is the presence of competing risk factors in poorer districts.

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Acknowledgments

We wish to thank the Agence Régionale de Santé and particularly Dr. Paul Lechuga and Dr. Michel Guitton for having enabled this study to be carried out by agreeing to share their data on drinking water nitrate and pesticide measurements. We wish to thank the Conseil Général des Deux-Sèvres, Service de Protection Maternelle et Infantile and particularly Dr. Sylvie Strezlec sharing their birth records data. We also wish to thank the Centre Maurice Halbwach and particularly Alexandre Kysch for providing the correlation map between addresses and IRIS. Finally, we wish to thank Jeffrey Arsham for his English language revision.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. IC2MP, UMR7285-CNRS, Medicine and Pharmacy Faculty, University of Poitiers, 6 rue de la Miletrie, 86034, Poitiers, Cedex, France

    F. Limousi, M. Albouy-Llaty, A. Dupuis, S. Rabouan & V. Migeot

  2. Biology-Pharmacy-Public Health Pole, Teaching Hospital of Poitiers, 2 rue de la Miletrie, BP577, 86021, Poitiers, Cedex, France

    M. Albouy-Llaty, A. Dupuis & V. Migeot

  3. Occupational and Environmental Health Laboratory, ISPED, University Bordeaux Segalen, 146 rue Léo Saignat, 33076, Bordeaux, France

    C. Carles

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  1. F. Limousi
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  2. M. Albouy-Llaty
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  3. C. Carles
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  4. A. Dupuis
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  5. S. Rabouan
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  6. V. Migeot
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Correspondence to F. Limousi.

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Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues

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Limousi, F., Albouy-Llaty, M., Carles, C. et al. Does area deprivation modify the association between exposure to a nitrate and low-dose atrazine metabolite mixture in drinking water and small for gestational age? A historic cohort study. Environ Sci Pollut Res 21, 4964–4973 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-013-1893-5

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