From Cohort to Cohort: A Similar Mixture Approach (SMACH) to Evaluate Exposures to a Mixture Leading to Thyroid-Mediated Neurodevelopmental Effects Using NHANES Data

Abstract

Prenatal exposure to a mixture (MIX N) of eight endocrine-disrupting chemicals has been associated with language delay in children in a Swedish pregnancy cohort. A novel approach was proposed linking this epidemiological association with experimental evidence, where the effect of MIX N on thyroid hormone signaling was assessed using the Xenopus eleuthero-embryonic thyroid assay (XETA OECD TG248). From this experimental data, a point of departure (PoD) was derived based on OECD guidance. Our aim in the current study was to use updated toxicokinetic models to compare exposures of women of reproductive age in the US population to MIX N using a Similar Mixture Approach (SMACH). Based on our findings, 66% of women of reproductive age in the US (roughly 38 million women) had exposures sufficiently similar to MIX N. For this subset, a Similar Mixture Risk Index (SMRIHI) was calculated comparing their exposures to the PoD. Women with SMRIHI > 1 represent 1.1 million women of reproductive age. Older women, Mexican American and other/multi race women were less likely to have high SMRIHI values compared to Non-Hispanic White women. These findings indicate that a reference mixture of chemicals identified in a Swedish cohort—and tested in an experimental model for establishment of (PoDs)—is also of health relevance in a US population.

Keywords

• mixtures risk assessment
• causal inference
• endocrine-disrupting chemicals