Physical activity modifies the relation between gestational perfluorooctanoic acid exposure and adolescent cardiometabolic risk

Exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) – endocrine disrupting chemicals – may increase cardiometabolic risk. We evaluated whether adolescent lifestyle factors modified associations between gestational PFAS exposure and cardiometabolic risk using a prospective cohort study. In 166 mother-child pairs (HOME Study), we measured concentrations of four PFAS in maternal serum collected during pregnancy. When children were age 12 years, we calculated cardiometabolic risk scores from visceral adiposity area, blood pressure, and fasting serum biomarkers. We assessed adolescent physical activity and Healthy Eating Index scores using the Physical Activity Questionnaire for Older Children (PAQ-C), actigraphy, and 24-h diet recalls. Using multivariable linear regression and weighted quantile sum regression, we examined whether physical activity or diet modified covariate-adjusted associations of PFAS and their mixture with cardiometabolic risk scores. Physical activity modified associations between perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and cardiometabolic risk scores. Each doubling of PFOA was associated with worse cardiometabolic risk scores among children with PAQ-C scores < median (β:1.4; 95% CI:0.5, 2.2, n = 82), but not among those with PAQ-C scores ≥ median (β: 0.2; 95% CI: 1.2, 0.7, n = 84) (interaction p-value = 0.01). Associations were most prominent for insulin resistance, leptin-adiponectin ratio, and visceral fat area. We observed results suggesting that physical activity modified the association of PFAS mixture with cardiometabolic risk scores, insulin resistance, and visceral fat area (interaction p-values = 0.17, 0.07, and 0.10, respectively); however, the 95% CIs of the interaction terms included the null value. We observed similar, but attenuated patterns for PFOA and actigraphy-based measures of physical activity. Diet did not modify any associations. Physical activity or diet did not modify associations for other PFAS. Childhood physical activity modified associations of prenatal serum PFOA concentrations with children's cardiometabolic risk in this cohort, indicating that lifestyle interventions may ameliorate the adverse effects of PFOA exposure.