Data for RICHS Placental lncRNA expression associated with placental cadmium concentrations and birth weight

Background: Prenatal heavy metal exposures, such as cadmium, can have negative effects on infant birth weight – among other developmental outcomes – with placental dysfunction potentially playing a role in these effects. In this study, we examined how differential placental expression of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) may be associated with cadmium exposure and whether differences in the expression of those lncRNAs was associated with fetal growth. Methods: In the Rhode Island Child Health Study (RICHS) we used data from whole transcriptome RNA sequencing (n=199) to examine the association between lncRNA expression and measures of infant birth weight as well as placental cadmium concentrations.