Author Interviews, Environmental Risks, Hepatitis - Liver Disease, JAMA / 06.07.2022
Maternal Exposure to Environmental Chemicals may play role in Pediatric Liver Disease
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dania Valvi, MD MPH PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Environmental Medicine and Public Health
Co-Director, MS in Epidemiology
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Email: [email protected]
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common liver disease in children in the U.S., Europe and other world regions, currently affecting 1 in every 10 children, and 1 in every 3 children with obesity in the U.S. The rate of pediatric NAFLD has more than doubled in recent decades following the epidemic rates also noted for childhood obesity. There is increasing interest in the role that environmental chemical exposures may play in NAFLD etiology, since several animal studies have shown that prenatal exposures to endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) cause liver injury and damage; but, until now, the potential effects of prenatal EDC mixture exposures in pediatric NAFLD had not been studied.
(more…)