Racial disparity in maternal and fetal-cord bisphenol A concentrations

Objective: To determine if racial disparities exist in maternal and fetal cord serum concentrations of bisphenol A (BPA). Study Design: A nested cross-sectional study was performed from a cohort of 600 term nulliparas. In 27 patients (8 Caucasian, 8 African-American and 11 Hispanic), term pre-labor maternal serum and corresponding fetal-cord serum were analyzed for BPA. Result: African-Americans had the highest maternal serum concentrations, 10-fold higher than Caucasians (30.13 vs 3.14 ng ml^-1; P=0.038). Hispanics had intermediate concentrations with a trend towards higher concentrations compared with Caucasians (24.46 vs 3.14 ng ml^-1; P=0.051). Overall concentrations were 10-fold higher in maternal samples than fetal samples (14.1 vs 1.3 ng ml^-1; P=0.001). Hispanics had higher fetal concentrations than non-Hispanics (2.05 vs 0.35 ng ml^-1; P=0.025). Conclusion: We found significant racial/ethnic differences in maternal/fetal BPA concentrations. Further study is needed to determine if these differences reflect disparities in exposure, metabolism or placental transfer.