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Ann Aschengrau,¹ Janice Weinberg,² Sarah Rogers,¹ Lisa Gallagher,³ Michael Winter,⁴ Veronica Vieira,³ Thomas Webster,³ and David Ozonoff³

¹Department of Epidemiology, ²Department of Biostatistics, ³Department of Environmental Health, and ⁴Data Coordinating Center, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Abstract
Background: Prior studies of prenatal exposure to tetrachloroethylene (PCE) have shown mixed results regarding its effect on birth weight and gestational age.

Objectives: In this retrospective cohort study we examined whether PCE contamination of public drinking-water supplies in Massachusetts influenced the birth weight and gestational duration of children whose mothers were exposed before the child's delivery.

Methods: The study included 1,353 children whose mothers were exposed to PCE-contaminated drinking water and a comparable group of 772 children of unexposed mothers. Birth records were used to identify subjects and provide information on the outcomes. Mothers completed a questionnaire to gather information on residential histories and confounding variables. PCE exposure was estimated using EPANET water distribution system modeling software that incorporated a fate and transport model.

Results: We found no meaningful associations between PCE exposure and birth weight or gestational duration. Compared with children whose mothers were unexposed during the year of the last menstrual period (LMP) , adjusted mean differences in birth weight were 20.9, 6.2, 30.1, and 15.2 g for children whose mothers' average monthly exposure during the LMP year ranged from the lowest to highest quartile. Similarly, compared with unexposed children, adjusted mean differences in gestational age were –0.2, 0.1, –0.1, and –0.2 weeks for children whose mothers' average monthly exposure ranged from the lowest to highest quartile. Similar results were observed for two other measures of prenatal exposure.

Conclusions: These results suggest that prenatal PCE exposure does not have an adverse effect on these birth outcomes at the exposure levels experienced by this population.

Key words: birth outcomes, birth weight, drinking-water contamination, gestational duration, low birth weight, perchloroethylene, prematurity, tetrachloroethylene. Environ Health Perspect 116:814–820 (2008) . doi:10.1289/ehp.10414 available via http://dx.doi.org/ [Online 6 February 2008]

Address correspondence to A. Aschengrau, Department of Epidemiology, Boston University School of Public Health, 715 Albany St., Boston, MA 02118 USA. Telephone: (617) 638-5228. Fax: (617) 638-4458. E-mail: aaschen@bu.edu

This work was supported by grant 5 P42 ES007381 from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) , National Institutes of Health (NIH) .

Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of NIEHS, NIH.

D.O. has testified in personal injury cases involving exposure to tetrachloroethylene and trichloroethylene. No such litigation is currently pending. The other authors declare they have no competing financial interests.

Received 27 April 2007 ; accepted 4 February 2008.