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3063561 
Technical Report 
Correlation Of Prematurity And DDE Levels In Fetal Whole Blood 
O'Leary, JA; Davies, JE; Edmundson, WF; Feldman, M 
1972 
NIOSH/00150187 
Davies 
55-56 
The occurrence of p,p'-DDE (72559) was compared in premature and normally mature infants. The pesticide p,p'-DDE was analyzed in whole blood of premature infants weighing less than 2,500 grams by gas chromatography. Results were compared with those from a group of normal mature infants. Race specific categories were used because of the significantly higher values of p,p'-DDE in Negro blood. The mean value for healthy white comparisons was 4.9 parts per billion (ppb) with a range of 2 to 13ppb. In the premature white group the mean was 22.1ppb with a range from 18.7 to 26.8ppb. Among Negro infants, the mean in comparisons was 6.1 with a range of 3 to 12ppb. The Negro premature infant had a mean of 19.0ppb and a range of 6.6 to 34.4ppb. The median for white infants at term was 5ppb. For premature white infants the median was 21ppb. For Negro infants at term the median was 5ppb. The median for premature Negro infants was 17ppb. The authors conclude that the higher blood values in premature infants may be related to the absence of body fat and vernix for storage of this lipid soluble substance.