Birth defects risk associated with maternal sport fish consumption: potential effect modification by sex of offspring

Contaminated sport fish consumption may result in exposure to various reproductive and developmental toxicants, including pesticides and other suspected endocrine disruptors. We investigated the relation between maternal sport fish meals and risk of major birth defects among infants born to members of the New York State (NYS) Angler Cohort between 1986 and 1991 (n=2237 births). Birth defects (n=125 cases) were ascertained from both newborn medical records and the NYS Congenital Malformations Registry. For sport fish meals eaten during pregnancy, the odds ratio (OR) for all major malformations combined was slightly elevated for ⩽1 meal/month (OR=1.26, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.84, 1.89) and ⩾2 meals/month (OR=1.51, CI=0.74, 3.09), with no meals during pregnancy as the reference category. Higher ORs were consistently observed among male offspring compared with females. For ⩾2 meals/month, the risk for males was significantly elevated (males: OR=3.01, CI: 1.2, 7.5; females: OR=0.73, CI: 0.2, 2.4). Exposure during pregnancy and effect modification by infants sex could be important considerations for future studies of birth outcomes associated with endocrine disruptors.