Multiple environmental exposures in early-life and allergy-related outcomes in childhood

Granum, Berit; Casas Sanahuja, Maribel; Warembourg, Charline; de Castro, Montserrat; Donaire González, David; Maitre, Léa; Robinson, Oliver; Tamayo-Uria, Ibon; Urquiza, José M.; Nieuwenhuijsen, Mark J.; Vrijheid, Martine

doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2020.106038

Multiple environmental exposures in early-life and allergy-related outcomes in childhood

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Granum B, Oftedal B, Agier L, Siroux V, Bird P, Casas M et al. Multiple environmental exposures in early-life and allergy-related outcomes in childhood. Environ Int. 2020; 144:106038. DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2020.106038

Abstract

Introduction: Early onset and high prevalence of allergic diseases result in high individual and socio-economic burdens. Several studies provide evidence for possible effects of environmental factors on allergic diseases, but these are mainly single-exposure studies. The exposome provides a novel holistic approach by simultaneously studying a large set of exposures. The aim of the study was to evaluate the association between a broad range of prenatal and childhood environmental exposures and allergy-related outcomes in children. Material and methods: Analyses of associations between 90 prenatal and 107 childhood exposures and allergy-related outcomes (last 12 months: rhinitis and itchy rash; ever: doctor-diagnosed eczema and food allergy) in 6-11 years old children (n = 1270) from the European Human Early-Life Exposome cohort were performed. Initially, we used an exposome-wide association study (ExWAS) considering the exposures independently, followed by a deletion-substitution-addition selection (DSA) algorithm considering all exposures simultaneously. All the exposure variables selected in the DSA were included in a final multi-exposure model using binomial general linear model (GLM). Results: In ExWAS, no exposures were associated with the outcomes after correction for multiple comparison. In multi-exposure models for prenatal exposures, lower distance of residence to nearest road and higher di-iso-nonyl phthalate level were associated with increased risk of rhinitis, and particulate matter absorbance (PMabs) was associated with a decreased risk. Furthermore, traffic density on nearest road was associated with increased risk of itchy rash and diethyl phthalate with a reduced risk. DSA selected no associations of childhood exposures, or between prenatal exposures and eczema or food allergy. Discussion: This first comprehensive and systematic analysis of many environmental exposures suggests that prenatal exposure to traffic-related variables, PMabs and phthalates are associated with rhinitis and itchy rash.