Childhood health disparities: exploration of prenatal exposures in primary teeth

描述(由调查人员提供)：产前暴露的差异可能是在健康结果中观察到的一些种族差异的原因；然而，由于缺乏检查这种回溯性暴露的可靠手段，研究一直受到阻碍。一种新的方法，激光烧蚀-电感耦合等离子体质谱(LA-ICP-MS)的人类乳牙的元素生物成像(LA-ICPMS)，将被用来测量已建立的出生队列中自然剥离的牙齿的金属暴露。这种方法不仅量化了接触，而且估计了接触的时间(即在三个月内)。我们假设有可辨认的 暴露的关键窗口与孕期发育的关键器官系统相一致，这些系统对不同的儿童健康结果是特定的。拟议的项目建立在通过2003年至2007年在底特律、密歇根州和周边郊区进行的韦恩县健康、环境、过敏和哮喘纵向研究(WHEALS)出生队列收集的现有数据的基础上。从活跃的WHEALS参与者的子集中，将收集250颗自然脱落的乳牙(230名独特的儿童)，并将使用LA-ICPMS测量5种金属(铅、镉、锰、汞、砷)。我们感兴趣的结果是两个特征显示出显著的种族差异：出生体重和2岁时的过敏性疾病测量。我们的目标是(1)检查早期接触金属毒物是否存在种族差异；(2)检查特定孕期接触金属毒物是否与出生体重有关；(3)检查早期接触金属毒物是否与2岁时的过敏性疾病有关。通过拟议的研究获得的信息可能指导公共卫生政策，改进预防策略，并导致更早地识别和治疗高危儿童，总体目标是减少健康差异和改善公众健康。

DESCRIPTION (provided by investigator): Differences in prenatal exposures may account for some of the racial disparities observed in health outcomes; however, studies have been hampered by a lack of a reliable means of examining such retrospective exposures. A novel method, elemental bio-imaging of human primary teeth with laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS), will be used to measure metal exposures in naturally sheed teeth of an established birth cohort. This approach not only quantifies exposure but also estimates the timing of the exposure (i.e. within trimester). We hypothesize there are identifiable critical windows of exposure aligned with gestational development of key organ systems that are specific for different child health outcomes. The proposed project builds on extant data collected through the racially and socioeconomically diverse Wayne County Health, Environment, Allergy and Asthma Longitudinal Study (WHEALS) birth cohort conducted between 2003 and 2007 in Detroit, MI and the surrounding suburban regions. From a subset of active WHEALS participants, 250 naturally shed primary teeth (230 unique children) will be collected and 5 metals (lead, cadmium, manganese, mercury, arsenic) will be measured with LA-ICP-MS. Our outcomes of interest are two traits demonstrating substantial racial disparities: birth weight and allergic disease measures at age 2 years. Our aims are to (1) examine if there are racial differences in early-life metal toxicant exposures; (2) examine if trimester-specific exposures to metal toxicants are associated with birth weight; and (3) examine if early-life exposures to metal toxicants are associated with allergic disease at age 2. Information gained by the proposed study may guide public health policy, improve prevention strategies, and lead to earlier identification and treatment of high-risk children with the overall goal to reduce health disparitis and improve the publics' heath.