Can PFAS exposure during pregnancy increase your risk of miscarriage?

What's actually in it

PFAS enter a pregnant woman's body through nonstick cookware, stain-treated fabrics, fast-food wrappers, waterproof clothing, and contaminated drinking water. These chemicals don't break down and accumulate in the blood over time. During pregnancy, they cross the placenta and interact with both maternal and fetal tissues.

Miscarriage affects roughly 1 in 5 known pregnancies. While many causes are genetic, researchers are increasingly looking at environmental chemicals as contributing factors.

What the research says

A 2026 study using the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort analyzed PFAS levels in pregnant women's blood and tracked pregnancy outcomes. This is one of the largest and most detailed birth cohort studies in the world.

Women with higher PFAS concentrations in their blood had a greater chance of miscarriage. The association was found for several PFAS compounds, including PFOS, PFOA, and PFHxS. The link remained after accounting for age, weight, smoking, and other risk factors.

The study's size and design make its findings strong. Cohort studies follow people forward in time, which avoids many of the biases that weaken other study types.

For women planning a pregnancy, reducing PFAS exposure in advance is ideal because these chemicals take years to leave the body. Switching to cast iron or stainless steel cookware, filtering drinking water, and avoiding stain-treated furniture all help lower blood PFAS levels over time.