Persistent Associations between Maternal Prenatal Exposure to Phthalates on Child IQ at Age 7 Years

Details

• Alternative Title:
  PLoS One
• Personal Author:
  Factor-Litvak, Pam ; Insel, Beverly ; Calafat, Antonia M. ; Liu, Xinhua ; Perera, Frederica ; Rauh, Virginia A. ; Whyatt, Robin M.
• Description:
  Background
  
  Prior research reports inverse associations between maternal prenatal urinary phthalate metabolite concentrations and mental and motor development in preschoolers. No study evaluated whether these associations persist into school age.
  
  Methods
  
  In a follow up of 328 inner-city mothers and their children, we measured prenatal urinary metabolites of di-n-butyl phthalate (DnBP), butylbenzyl phthalate (BBzP), di-isobutyl phthalate (DiBP), di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate and diethyl phthalate in late pregnancy. The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, 4th edition was administered at child age 7 years and evaluates four areas of cognitive function associated with overall intelligence quotient (IQ).
  
  Results
  
  Child full-scale IQ was inversely associated with prenatal urinary metabolite concentrations of DnBP and DiBP: b = −2.69 (95% confidence interval [CI] = −4.33, −1.05) and b = −2.69 (95% CI = −4.22, −1.16) per log unit increase. Among children of mothers with the highest versus lowest quartile DnBP and DiBP metabolite concentrations, IQ was 6.7 (95% CI = 1.9, 11.4) and 7.6 (95% CI = 3.2, 12.1) points lower, respectively. Associations were unchanged after control for cognition at age 3 years. Significant inverse associations were also seen between maternal prenatal metabolite concentrations of DnBP and DiBP and child processing speed, perceptual reasoning and working memory; DiBP and child verbal comprehension; and BBzP and child perceptual reasoning.
  
  Conclusion
  
  Maternal prenatal urinary metabolite concentrations measured in late pregnancy of DnBP and DiBP are associated with deficits in children’s intellectual development at age 7 years. Because phthalate exposures are ubiquitous and concentrations seen here within the range previously observed among general populations, results are of public health significance.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Adolescent Adult Child Environmental Exposure Female Humans Intelligence Longitudinal Studies Male Phthalic Acids Pregnancy Pregnancy Trimester, Third Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects Young Adult

  More +
• Source:
  PLoS One. 2014; 9(12).
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Volume:
  9
• Issue:
  12
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:df466cc36f692c3bd71f6a5a541f3dd842da3f858be8e037c6373330ab2c6435
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/26406/cdc_26406_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 566.12 KB ]