Association between brominated flame retardants and diagnosis or symptoms of allergies among a nationally representative sample in the US

Globally, the prevalence of allergic diseases is increasing. The increasing prevalence is thought to be due, in part, to increasing environmental exposures, including exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs). Our study examined the association between exposure to brominated flame retardants (BFRs) and doctor diagnosis and symptoms of allergic diseases. Using data from the 2005-2006 cycle of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), we employed quantile g-computation to examine the association between a mixture of polybrominated biphenyls (PBB) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and the diagnosis and symptoms of allergic diseases, as well as the individual direction and weights of each component in the mixture. For the quantile g-computation method, we utilized generalized estimating equations models with binomial distribution and logit link to account for survey weights. Models were adjusted for sex assigned at birth, age, race/ethnicity, and family poverty income ratio. Generally, we found no association between BFRs and diagnosis of allergic diseases (Odds ratio [OR]:1.01; 95% Confidence Interval [CI]: 0.72, 1.42). We found an inverse relation between exposure to BFRs and symptoms of allergic diseases, but this relationship was not statistically significant (OR: 0.93; 95% CI: 0.68, 1.29). In our unadjusted analysis examining the weights and directions of each component in the mixture, PBB-153 and PBDE-154 were positively related to both diagnosis and symptoms of allergies. Further studies should examine this relationship with a broader set of chemicals.