Prenatal exposure to pyrethroid pesticides and childhood behavior and executive functioning

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Melissa A. Furlong, University of Arizona; Dana Boyd Barr, Emory University; Mary S. Wolff, Mount Sinai School of Medicine; Stephanie M. Engel, University of North Carolina
• Language: English
• Date: 2017-09-01
• Publisher: Elsevier: 12 months
• Publication Version: Author Accepted Manuscript (After Peer Review)
• Copyright Statement: © 2017 Elsevier B.V.
• License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuro.2017.08.005
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: NeuroToxicology
• ISSN: 0161-813X
• Volume: 62
• Start Page: 231
• End Page: 238
• Grant/Funding Information: M. Furlong was supported in part by NIEHS institutional training grant [T32ES007018].; This work was supported by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences/U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Children’s Center [ES09584 and R827039], the New York Community Trust, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)/Association of Teachers of Preventive Medicine, and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences [P30ES023515].
• Keywords: Toxicology; Pharmacology & Pharmacy; REPRODUCTIVE TOXICITY; URINARY METABOLITES; Depression; POPULATION; ATTENTION-DEFICIT/HYPERACTIVITY DISORDER; PERMETHRIN EXPOSURE; Pyrethroids; Pesticides; Life Sciences & Biomedicine; Neurosciences & Neurology; Behavior; Science & Technology; CYPERMETHRIN; Executive functioning; Neurosciences; Neurodevelopment; HUMAN DOSE-EXCRETION; US CHILDREN; ORGANOPHOSPHORUS PESTICIDES; TANDEM MASS-SPECTROMETRY
• Research Categories: Health Sciences, Public Health; Health Sciences, Epidemiology

Abstract

Several previous studies of pyrethroid biomarkers and behavior have reported associations between concurrent pyrethroid levels and adverse behavioral problems in children. One geospatial study reported associations between prenatal exposure to pyrethroids and autism. However, the association between prenatal pyrethroid biomarkers and childhood behavior is unknown. The Mount Sinai Children's Environmental Health Center is a prospective birth cohort with urinary pyrethroid biomarkers during pregnancy and behavioral measurements at 4, 6, and 7–9 years of age. Primiparous women were enrolled between 1998 and 2002. 162 mother/child pairs with complete exposure and behavioral outcomes data were used to investigate associations between detectable levels of prenatal pyrethroid metabolites and scores on the Behavioral Assessment System for Children and the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function. Overall, detection frequencies of pyrethroid metabolites were low (<30%). In longitudinal mixed models, detectable levels of 3-PBA during pregnancy were associated with worse Internalizing (β −4.50, 95% CI −8.05, −0.95), Depression (β −3.21, 95% CI −6.38, −0.05), Somatization (β −3.22, 95% CI −6.38, −0.06), Behavioral Regulation (β −3.59, 95% CI −6.97, −0.21), Emotional Control (β −3.35, 95% CI −6.58, −0.12), Shifting (β −3.42, 95% CI −6.73, −0.11), and Monitoring (β −4.08, 95% CI −7.07, −1.08) scales. Detectable levels of cis-DCCA were associated with worse Externalizing (β −4.74, 95% CI −9.37, −0.10), Conduct Problems (β −5.35, 95% CI −9.90, −0.81), Behavioral Regulation (β −6.42, 95% CI −11.39, −1.45), and Inhibitory Control (β −7.20, 95% CI −12.00, −2.39). Although detection frequencies of pyrethroid metabolites were low, we found suggestive evidence that prenatal exposure to 3-PBA and cis-DCCA may be associated with a variety of behavioral and executive functioning deficits.