1 Department of Psychology, Concordia University, Montréal, Québec, Canada; Sainte-Justine University Hospital Research Center, Québec, Canada.
2 Department of Psychology, Concordia University, Montréal, Québec, Canada; Sainte-Justine University Hospital Research Center, Québec, Canada; Department of Psychiatry and Addictology, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada.
3 School of Psychology, Université Laval, Ville de Québec, Québec, Canada.
4 Environmental Health Science and Research Bureau, Healthy Environments and Consumer Safety Branch, Health Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
5 Sainte-Justine University Hospital Research Center, Québec, Canada; Department of Psychiatry and Addictology, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada.
6 Department of Paediatrics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
7 Sainte-Justine University Hospital Research Center, Québec, Canada; Centre de recherche du CHUS (CHU de Sherbrooke), Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Québec, Canada.
8 Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada; BC Children's Hospital Research Institute, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
9 Sainte-Justine University Hospital Research Center, Québec, Canada; Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, School of Public Health of the University of Montreal, Montréal, Québec, Canada. Electronic address: maryse.bouchard@umontreal.ca.

Prenatal exposure to polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and cognitive ability in early childhood.

Environ Int. 2021 Jan; 146:106296

Authors: Azar N, Booij L, Muckle G, Arbuckle TE, Séguin JR, Asztalos E, Fraser WD, Lanphear BP, Bouchard MF

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Prenatal exposure to polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) has been associated with adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes in children, but evidence remains mixed regarding sex differences in this association.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the prospective association between prenatal PBDE exposure and cognitive ability in young children, as well as potential sex differences.

METHODS: The study was conducted in a multi-site Canadian pregnancy cohort recruited in 2008-11. PBDEs were measured in maternal plasma samples collected early in pregnancy. Cognitive ability was assessed using the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (WPPSI-III) in children at age 3 years (mean = 3.4). Multiple linear regression was used to analyze the association between maternal PBDE plasma concentrations (lipid-standardized and log10-transformed) and Verbal, Performance, and Full Scale IQ scores on the whole sample and stratified by sex, adjusting for confounders.

RESULTS: The sample was composed of 592 children (291 boys and 301 girls). A tenfold increase in maternal blood PBDE concentration (sum of BDE-47, -99, -100, and -153) was associated with lower Full Scale scores in boys (-3.4 points; 95% CI: -7.0, 0.1), after adjusting for confounders. BDE-47 was the congener with the highest concentrations in maternal blood and a tenfold increase in exposure was associated with significantly lower Full Scale IQ scores in boys (-4.4 points; 95% CI: -7.9, -0.9), after adjusting for confounders. Verbal and Performance IQ scores were similarly associated with PBDE exposure. Maternal blood PBDE concentrations were not associated with IQ scores in girls.

CONCLUSIONS: Prenatal exposure to background levels of PBDEs, especially BDE-47, was associated with lower IQ scores in boys, but not in girls. Our results support that exposure to PBDEs during early development may be sex-dependent and detrimental to a child's neurodevelopmental trajectory.

PMID: 33395941 [PubMed - in process]