Table 1 Population characteristics with unadjusted geometric mean (GM) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI) of wet-weight BDE-47 levels in maternal, placental, and fetal liver tissues among pregnant women during mid-gestation at the Women's Options Center (WOC) in Northern California (study waves 3–4; 2014–16; n = 180)

From: Racial/ethnic and geographic differences in polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) levels across maternal, placental, and fetal tissues during mid-gestation

Characteristic	n (%)	Fetal liver BDE-47 (ng/g)	p-value	BDE-47 (ng/g)	p-value	Maternal serum BDE-47 (ng/ml)	p-value
Maternal age
< 20 years	27 (15)	0.32 (0.23, 0.44)	0.764	0.12 (0.09, 0.15)	0.81	0.17 (0.13, 0.22)	0.329
20–24 years	74 (41)	0.29 (0.20, 0.43)		0.12 (0.09, 0.15)		0.20 (0.14, 0.27)
25–29 years	42 (23)	0.27 (0.18, 0.42)		0.11 (0.08, 0.15)		0.18 (0.13, 0.25)
≥ 30 years	37 (21)	0.30 (0.19, 0.47)		0.11 (0.08, 0.15)		0.16 (0.11, 0.23)
Body mass index (BMI)
Normal/under (< 25 kg/m²)	79 (44)	0.27 (0.22, 0.32)	0.310	0.11 (0.09, 0.13)	0.697	0.17 (0.15, 0.20)	0.834
Overweight (25–30 kg/m²)	52 (29)	0.29 (0.22, 0.40)		0.12 (0.10, 0.15)		0.18 (0.14, 0.23)
Obese (≥ 30 kg/m²)	49 (27)	0.34 (0.25, 0.46)		0.11 (0.09, 0.14)		0.19 (0.15, 0.24)
Birth country
U.S. born	105 (58)	0.28 (0.24, 0.33)	0.045*	0.13 (0.11, 0.14)	0.014*	0.18 (0.16, 0.20)	0.055
Foreign born	16 (9)	0.15 (0.10, 0.25)		0.08 (0.06, 0.11)		0.12 (0.08, 0.16)
Education
≤ High school	86 (48)	0.32 (0.27, 0.39)	0.423	0.12 (0.11, 0.14)	0.298	0.21 (0.18, 0.24)	0.022*
≥ Some college	93 (52)	0.27 (0.21, 0.35)		0.11 (0.09, 0.13)		0.16 (0.13, 0.19)
Employment
Employed	70 (39)	0.26 (0.21, 0.32)	0.855	0.10 (0.09, 0.12)	0.936	0.18 (0.15, 0.21)	0.559
Unemployed	73 (41)	0.28 (0.21, 0.38)		0.10 (0.08, 0.12)		0.20 (0.16, 0.25)
Gestational age
< 19 weeks	47 (26)	0.37 (0.29, 0.47)	0.102	0.12 (0.10, 0.14)	0.811	0.18 (0.15, 0.22)	0.989
≥ 19 weeks	133 (74)	0.27 (0.20, 0.36)		0.11 (0.09, 0.14)		0.18 (0.14, 0.23)
Insurance
Public	136 (76)	0.32 (0.28, 0.37)	0.011*	0.12 (0.11, 0.13)	0.037*	0.19 (0.17, 0.21)	0.509
Private/self-pay	39 (22)	0.20 (0.15, 0.27)		0.09 (0.07, 0.11)		0.16 (0.13, 0.20)
Parity
0 prior live births	73(41)	0.24 (0.20, 0.29)	0.055	0.10 (0.08, 0.11)	0.032*	0.15 (0.13, 0.17)	0.011*
≥ 1 prior live births	107 (59)	0.33 (0.26, 0.43)		0.13 (0.10, 0.15)		0.20 (0.17, 0.25)
Race/ethnicity
Latina/Hispanic	67 (37)	0.30 (0.24, 0.37)	0.063	0.12 (0.10, 0.14)	0.104	0.19 (0.16, 0.22)	0.021*
Non-Hispanic Black	47 (26)	0.28 (0.20, 0.39)		0.12 (0.09, 0.15)		0.18 (0.14, 0.24)
Non-Hispanic White	40 (22)	0.36 (0.26, 0.51)		0.12 (0.09, 0.15)		0.20 (0.15, 0.26)
Asian/Pacific Islander/Other	26 (14)	0.22 (0.15, 0.32)		0.09 (0.07, 0.12)		0.13 (0.09, 0.17)
Region of residence
SF Bay Area	99 (55)	0.26 (0.22, 0.30)	0.103	0.11 (0.09, 0.12)	0.395	0.17 (0.15, 0.19)	0.016*
S. Central Valley/Fresno	24 (13)	0.38 (0.26, 0.55)		0.13 (0.10, 0.17)		0.25 (0.19, 0.34)
N. Central Valley/Coast/Sierras	39 (22)	0.31 (0.23, 0.43)		0.12 (0.09, 0.15)		0.17 (0.13, 0.21)
Fetal sex
Male	92 (51)	0.30 (0.25, 0.35)	0.978	0.11 (0.10, 0.13)	0.956	0.18 (0.16, 0.21)	0.997
Female	85 (47)	0.29 (0.22, 0.37)		0.11 (0.09, 0.13)		0.18 (0.15, 0.22)
Collection year
2014	81 (45)	0.39 (0.33, 0.47)	< 0.001**	0.13 (0.12, 0.15)	0.001**	0.17 (0.14, 0.20)	0.496
2015	91 (51)	0.22 (0.17, 0.29)		0.10 (0.08, 0.11)		0.19 (0.15, 0.23)
2016	8 (6)	0.32 (0.18, 0.59)		0.16 (0.10, 0.26)		0.19 (0.12, 0.32)

^†Number missing = 56, 1, 4, 1, 23, 2, 5, for birth country, education, employment, insurance, race/ethnicity, and region of residence, respectively.
*p < 0.05; **p < 0.01.

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