Trichloroethylene exposure and congenital heart defects

✍ Scribed by Anthony R. Scialli; Herman Gibb

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2005
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 42 KB
• Volume: 73
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1542-0752
• DOI: 10.1002/bdra.20135

✦ Synopsis

In their study on trichloroethylene (TCE) exposure and congenital heart defects (CHDs), conclude, ". . . our observations add significantly to the overall body of literature that suggests TCE is a cardiac teratogen." This conclusion is too strong. The method of identifying exposure involved maternal address within 1.32 miles of a TCE-emitting site. The site could have emitted TCE via air or water at any time during the period 1996 -1999 (pregnancies were for the period 1997-1999); neither the amount emitted by each site nor the weather conditions were factored into the analysis. Whether exposure occurred to the mothers during their pregnancies or even occurred at all cannot be determined. The likely inaccuracies in determining exposure status and the combining of all CHDs as though these outcomes were homogeneous make it unlikely that a causal association between TCE exposure and any CHD could be identified by this study, even if one existed. may argue that the misclassifi-