Youssef Oulhote1, Émilie Tremblay2, Tye E Arbuckle3, William D Fraser4, Jean-Pascal Lemelin5, Jean R Séguin6, Emmanuel Ouellet7, Nadine Forget-Dubois2, Pierre Ayotte8, Michel Boivin9, Ginette Dionne9, Bruce P Lanphear10, Gina Muckle2. 1. Centre de Recherche du CHU de Québec-Université Laval, Québec, Qc, Canada; École de Psychologie, Université Laval, Québec, Qc, Canada; Department of Environmental Health, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA. Electronic address: youlhote@hsph.harvard.edu. 2. Centre de Recherche du CHU de Québec-Université Laval, Québec, Qc, Canada; École de Psychologie, Université Laval, Québec, Qc, Canada. 3. Population Studies Division, Environmental Health Science and Research Bureau, Health Canada, Ottawa, ON, Canada. 4. Centre de Recherche du CHU Sainte-Justine, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Mère-Enfant, Montréal, Qc, Canada; Département d'Obstétrique et Gynécologie, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Qc, Canada. 5. Département de psychoéducation, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Qc, Canada. 6. Centre de Recherche du CHU Sainte-Justine, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Mère-Enfant, Montréal, Qc, Canada; Département de psychiatrie et addictologie, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Qc, Canada. 7. Centre de Recherche du CHU de Québec-Université Laval, Québec, Qc, Canada. 8. Centre de Recherche du CHU de Québec-Université Laval, Québec, Qc, Canada; Centre de Toxicologie du Québec, Institut National de Santé Publique du Québec, Québec, Qc, Canada. 9. École de Psychologie, Université Laval, Québec, Qc, Canada. 10. Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada; Child and Family Research Institute, BC Children's and Women's Hospital, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Prenatal exposure to polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) has been associated with cognitive deficits and behavioral problems in children. To date, no study has examined this exposure in association with neurobehavioral development in infants younger than 12 months assessed with observational tasks. OBJECTIVES: This study examined the relation between prenatal PBDE concentrations and predisposition to frustration, assessed by the arm restraint task (ART), in Canadian infants. METHODS: In a prospective longitudinal study conducted in Canada, exposure to nine PBDE congeners was measured in maternal plasma during the first trimester of pregnancy. The ART was used to measure predisposition to frustration in infancy (N = 333; mean age = 6.9 months), as assessed by negative vocalizations (crying and screaming) and physical reactivity (discomfort movements). RESULTS: Maternal plasma PBDE-47 concentrations collected during pregnancy were associated with negative vocalizations using the ART (adjusted Relative Risk [aRR] = 1.04, 95% CI: 1.00, 1.09). Prenatal PBDE-99 concentrations during pregnancy were also related to a shift to the left in the tail of the distribution of onset of negative vocalizations as measured by a decrease of 38 s (95% CI: -78.1, 1.3) in the 75th quantile of the distribution for infants whose mothers had detectable levels of PBDE-99 compared to infants of mothers with undetectable levels. Similarly, infants whose mothers had detectable levels of PBDE-100 showed an increase of 24.1 s (95% CI: 4.1, 44.1) in the 75th quantile of the distribution of proportion of time in negative vocalizations compared with infants of mothers with undetectable levels. Finally, the association between PBDE-47 and PBDE-153, and physical reactivity was significantly modified by sex (p < 0.1), with opposite patterns in girls and boys. CONCLUSIONS: Prenatal exposure to PBDEs was associated with increased incidence of crying and screaming with delayed onset of discomfort movement, which may indicate a predisposition to frustration and lack of habituation in infants younger than 12 months from the general population.
BACKGROUND: Prenatal exposure to polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) has been associated with cognitive deficits and behavioral problems in children. To date, no study has examined this exposure in association with neurobehavioral development in infants younger than 12 months assessed with observational tasks. OBJECTIVES: This study examined the relation between prenatal PBDE concentrations and predisposition to frustration, assessed by the arm restraint task (ART), in Canadian infants. METHODS: In a prospective longitudinal study conducted in Canada, exposure to nine PBDE congeners was measured in maternal plasma during the first trimester of pregnancy. The ART was used to measure predisposition to frustration in infancy (N = 333; mean age = 6.9 months), as assessed by negative vocalizations (crying and screaming) and physical reactivity (discomfort movements). RESULTS: Maternal plasma PBDE-47 concentrations collected during pregnancy were associated with negative vocalizations using the ART (adjusted Relative Risk [aRR] = 1.04, 95% CI: 1.00, 1.09). Prenatal PBDE-99 concentrations during pregnancy were also related to a shift to the left in the tail of the distribution of onset of negative vocalizations as measured by a decrease of 38 s (95% CI: -78.1, 1.3) in the 75th quantile of the distribution for infants whose mothers had detectable levels of PBDE-99 compared to infants of mothers with undetectable levels. Similarly, infants whose mothers had detectable levels of PBDE-100 showed an increase of 24.1 s (95% CI: 4.1, 44.1) in the 75th quantile of the distribution of proportion of time in negative vocalizations compared with infants of mothers with undetectable levels. Finally, the association between PBDE-47 and PBDE-153, and physical reactivity was significantly modified by sex (p < 0.1), with opposite patterns in girls and boys. CONCLUSIONS: Prenatal exposure to PBDEs was associated with increased incidence of crying and screaming with delayed onset of discomfort movement, which may indicate a predisposition to frustration and lack of habituation in infants younger than 12 months from the general population.
Authors: C Polevoy; T E Arbuckle; Y Oulhote; B P Lanphear; K A Cockell; G Muckle; D Saint-Amour Journal: Environ Health Date: 2020-02-07 Impact factor: 5.984