Prenatal PBDE and PCB Exposures and Reading, Cognition, and Externalizing Behavior in Children

• Published in: Environmental health perspectives Vol. 125; no. 4; pp. 746 - 752
• Main Authors: Zhang, Hongmei, Yolton, Kimberly, Webster, Glenys M, Sjödin, Andreas, Calafat, Antonia M, Dietrich, Kim N, Xu, Yingying, Xie, Changchun, Braun, Joseph M, Lanphear, Bruce P, Chen, Aimin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences 01-04-2017
• Subjects: Achievement tests; Age; Analysis; Behavior; Behavior disorders; Child; Child Behavior - drug effects; Child development; Child, Preschool; Children; Children & youth; Chlorinated solvents; Cognition; Cognition & reasoning; Cognition - drug effects; Cognitive development; Cognitive disorders; Ethers; Exposure; Female; Fire resistant materials; Halogenated Diphenyl Ethers - metabolism; Halogenated Diphenyl Ethers - toxicity; Health aspects; Health risks; Human exposure; Humans; Hyperactivity; Intelligence; Lipids; Male; Maternal Exposure - statistics & numerical data; Ohio; Parameter estimation; PCB; Phonics; Polybrominated diphenyl ethers; Polychlorinated biphenyls; Polychlorinated Biphenyls - metabolism; Polychlorinated Biphenyls - toxicity; Pregnancy; Prenatal development; Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects - epidemiology; Prenatal influences; Reading; Reading comprehension; Risk factors; Skills; Standard deviation; Statistical analysis; Variables; Variance analysis; Ohio; United States > US
• ISSN: 0091-6765; 1552-9924
• DOI: 10.1289/EHP478

Prenatal polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) exposures may influence children's neurodevelopment.
We examined the association of prenatal PBDE and PCB exposures with children's reading skills at ages 5 and 8 years, Full-Scale Intelligence Quotient (FSIQ), and externalizing behavior problems at age 8 years.
From 239 mother-child pairs recruited (2003-2006) in Cincinnati, Ohio, we measured maternal serum PBDE and PCB concentrations, assessed child's reading skills using the Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement III (WJ-III) at age 5 years and the Wide Range Achievement Test-4 (WRAT-4) at age 8 years, tested FSIQ using the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-IV (WISC-IV), and externalizing behavior problems using the Behavioral Assessment System for Children-2 (BASC-2) at age 8 years. We used multiple linear regression to examine the association of prenatal PBDE and PCB concentrations and reading, FSIQ, and externalizing behavior problems after adjusting for covariates.
An increase of Sum
PBDEs (BDE-47, BDE-99, BDE-100, and BDE-153) by 10 times was not significantly associated with reading scores at age 5 years at the
= 0.05 level but was inversely associated with Reading Composite scores (β: -6.2, 95% CI: -11.7, -0.6) and FSIQ (β: -5.3, 95% CI: -10.6, -0.02) at age 8 years; it was positively associated with the score for externalizing behavior problems (β: 3.5, 95% CI: -0.1, 7.2) at age 8 years. Prenatal Sum
PCBs (PCB-118, -153, -138-158, and -180) was not significantly associated with a child's reading skills, FSIQ, and externalizing behavior problems.
Prenatal PBDE concentration was inversely associated with reading skills and FSIQ and positively associated with externalizing behavior problems at age 8 years. No significant associations were found in prenatal PCB concentration.