[Conference Talk] 3-generation study of metabolic disruption by pregnancy serum PFASs: Associations with abdominal and whole-body obesity in granddaughters in a 60-year follow-up of the child health and development studies cohort

By Barbara A. Cohn, PhD, Nickilou Krigbaum, MS, Piera Cirillo, MS
March 30, 2020

Read ENDO 2020 abstract from and MedPageToday news story

"Grandmothers with higher levels of serum EtFOSAA, a perfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS), were significantly more likely to have granddaughters with obesity, researchers reported.

Among 213 grandmother-mother-granddaughter triads, grandmothers in the top quarter of EtFOSAA exposure and with lower cholesterol levels had granddaughters with a 2.3-fold (95% CI 1.1-4.8) increased risk of abdominal and whole body overweight obesity compared to grandmothers in the bottom 25% of exposure, reported Barbara Cohn, PhD, of the Public Health Institute in Berkeley, California.

For a mechanism connecting grandmaternal PFAS exposure in utero to grandchildren's health, Cohn suggested that PFASs affect not only the fetus (second generation) but also progenitors of eggs within the fetus (third generation)..."