(175) ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN PER- AND POLYFLUOROALKYL SUBSTANCES (PFAS) AND INDIVIDUAL DOMAINS OF FEMALE SEXUAL FUNCTION
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Abstract Introduction Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are prevalent environmental chemicals used extensively in consumer and industrial products. Burgeoning research efforts have demonstrated potential associations between PFAS exposure and female sexual dysfunction. Yet little is known about how PFAS exposure influences specific domains (i.e., arousal, pain) of sexual function. Objective To evaluate associations between serum PFAS concentrations and individual domains of female sexual function. Methods We used cross-sectional data from the Pregnancy Study Online (PRESTO; n = 206), a preconception cohort study of female-identified pregnancy planners living in the United States or Canada, to estimate associations between serum PFAS concentrations and scores on 6 select items from the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI). Each question focused on a different aspect of sexual function: desire, arousal, orgasm frequency, painful intercourse, satisfaction, and lubrication difficulties. Responses were captured on a 5-point Likert scale. For each question a binary variable was formed by combining the lowest two responses into a “low function” group. We measured concentrations of four PFAS (specifically PFOS, PFOA, PFNA, and PFHxS) in serum using isotope-dilution tandem mass spectrometry. We used log binomial regression to calculate prevalence ratios (PRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) to estimate the association between being in the highest quartile of PFAS concentration and low function across each domain. Models were adjusted with age, body mass index, and parity. Results Median serum PFAS concentrations (ng/mL) were 0.8, 0.6, 0.5, and 0.3 for PFOS, PFOA, PFNA, and PFHxS, respectively. Higher PFAS concentrations were associated with low desire, with the highest quartile of PFOA and PFHxS concentrations associated with PRs of 1.59 (95% CI 0.83, 3.02) and 1.36 (95% CI 0.75, 2.47), respectively, compared to the lowest quartile. Higher PFOA concentration was also associated with a higher prevalence of low satisfaction (PR for the highest quartile compared to the lowest: 1.81, 95% CI 0.62, 5.31) and lubrication difficulty (PR for the highest quartile compared to the lowest: 1.33, 95% CI 0.41, 4.36). We did not see evidence for associations between higher PFAS concentrations and low function in other domains. Conclusions These preliminary findings suggest that associations between higher PFAS concentration and lower sexual desire may underlie observed associations between PFAS exposure and sexual dysfunction, though the estimates are imprecise. Understanding the association between PFAS and individual domains of sexual function is critical to elucidate a potential mechanism of action. Disclosure Any of the authors act as a consultant, employee or shareholder of an industry for: AbbVie Inc.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.001 | 0.002 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.004 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".