Level and effect of maternal exposure to perfluorinated compounds on health of offspring in human: an overview

Perfluorinated compounds (PFCs), as a kind of emerging persistent organic pollutants, have been widely used in industrial production and daily life. PFCs are highly stable and can easily bind to proteins and accumulate in organisms. Therefore, PFCs were widely distributed in the environment and human bodies. PFCs could be detected in maternal blood, umbilical blood, amniotic fluid, and breast milk, suggesting that fetus may exposed to PFCs in utero. Epidemiological studies have been conducted to examine the relationship between maternal exposure to PFCs and health outcomes of offspring including birth outcomes, neurobehavioral development, immune system diseases, and reproductive health. Several studies have reported that maternal exposure to PFCs were associated with lower birth weight, abnormal neurodevelopment, changed immunity, and delayed reproductive development. However, the results were not consistent in previous studies. The characteristics of study population, levels of exposure to PFCs and outcome measurements were significantly different in the studies, which may be the reason for the inconsistent findings. Large cohort studies with a long-term follow up are still needed to evaluate the effects of PFCs exposure in the development of offspring.