PhD defence E.M. (Elise) Philips

Environmental exposures are omnipresent throughout the human life course and may have a vast influence on human health. Elise Philips defends her thesis 'Environmental Exposures and Maternal and Child Health' on 12 January 2021 and investigated associations of bisphenols, phthalates and smoking with maternal and child health outcomes. 
Regarding to bisphenols and phthalates, she observed several associations with maternal health outcomes. Bisphenol S and F exposure were highly prevalent in pregnant women in the Netherlands as early as 2004-5. No associations were found with dietary intake, but adverse lifestyle related factors, such as obesity and the lack of folic acid supplement use, were associated with higher phthalate metabolite concentrations. Also, an association was observed for total bisphenol and phthalic acid with a longer time to pregnancy, however this was only present among women without adequate preconception folic acid supplement use. Bisphenols and phthalate metabolites were not associated with gestational hypertensive disorders or longitudinal changes in blood pressure during pregnancy, but subclinical associations of high molecular weight phthalate metabolites with higher early pregnancy sFlt-1/PlGF ratio and of bisphenol A with placental hemodynamics were observed. For gestational weight gain, higher total bisphenol and bisphenol A urine concentrations in early pregnancy were associated with a reduced gestational weight gain in the second half of pregnancy. However for maternal weight gain postpartum, several phthalate metabolites were associated with increased weight gain. A individual participant data meta-analysis among 229,158 families from 28 pregnancy or birth cohorts showed that maternal first trimester smoking only was not associated with adverse birth outcomes, but was associated with a higher risk of childhood overweight. Although quitting is best, reducing the number of cigarettes before third trimester, without quitting, lowers the risk of to be born small size for gestational age compared to women who continued smoking without reducing.

Due to corona, the PhD defences do not take place publicly in the usual way in the Senate Hall of the Professor Andries Querido Room. The candidates will defend their dissertation either in a small group or online.