A Longitudinal Study of Dentine Lead Levels, Intelligence, School Performance and Behaviour

Fergusson, David M.; Fergusson, J. E.; Horwood, L. John; Kinzett, Nicola G.

doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.1988.tb00754.x

Cited by 74 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…There is some support for this proposal, with evidence that verbal IQ is particularly susceptible to a number of changes in the prenatal environment, such as maternal cigarette use 17 and exposure to polychlorinated biphenyl 18 and lead. 19 Future studies that examine the association between maternal hypertensive diseases of pregnancy and the full cognitive profile of offspring will build on the findings presented here.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 79%

Do hypertensive diseases of pregnancy disrupt neurocognitive development in offspring?

Whitehouse

Robinson

Newnham

et al. 2012

Paediatric Perinatal Epid

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The current study sought to determine whether hypertensive diseases of pregnancy (gestational hypertension and pre-eclampsia) are associated with neurocognitive outcomes in middle childhood. Participants were members of the Western Australian Pregnancy Cohort (Raine) Study. Data were available for 1389 children (675 females; mean age = 10.59 years; SD = 0.19). Twenty-five per cent of these participants were offspring of pregnancies complicated by either gestational hypertension (n = 279), or pre-eclampsia (n = 34). Verbal ability at age 10 years was assessed with the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test - Revised (PPVT-R), and non-verbal ability with Ravens Colored Progressive Matrices (RCPM). Separate multivariable regression analyses, incorporating sociodemographic, antenatal, obstetric and postnatal covariates, investigated the effect of a two- (normotensive pregnancy vs. hypertensive pregnancy) and three-level (normotensive pregnancy vs. gestational hypertension vs. pre-eclampsia) predictor variable on PPVT-R and RCPM scores. Offspring of pregnancies complicated by maternal hypertension (gestational hypertension or pre-eclampsia) had a mean PPVT-R score that was 1.83 ([95% confidence interval (CI) -3.48, -0.17], P = 0.03) points lower than children from normotensive pregnancies. Multivariable regression analysis also identified a significant inverse association between the three-level predictor variable and offspring PPVT-R scores (P = 0.02). Gestational hypertension (without pre-eclampsia) reduced offspring PPVT-R scores by 1.71 points [95% CI -3.39, -0.03] and pre-eclampsia led to a reduction of 3.53 points [95% CI -8.41, 1.35], although this latter association did not achieve statistical significance. There was no effect of the two- (P = 0.99) or three-level (P = 0.92) predictor variable on RCPM scores. Maternal hypertensive diseases of pregnancy are a risk factor for a small reduction in offspring verbal ability.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 79%

Do hypertensive diseases of pregnancy disrupt neurocognitive development in offspring?

Whitehouse

Robinson

Newnham

et al. 2012

Paediatric Perinatal Epid

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“…One of the more rigorous and well-designed studies in Pocock's review was that by Fergusson et al [77]. Using a longitudinal design, the authors found no change in IQ following adjustment for covariates including gender.…”

Section: Discussion Summary and Conclusionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lead Poisoning and Intelligence: A Search for Cause and Effect in the Scottish Mental Surveys

Krebs¹

2019

Journal of Environmental and Public Health

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In 1932 and again in 1947, the Scottish Council for Research in Education conducted the Scottish Mental Surveys. Testing two cohorts, one in 1932 and another in 1947, researchers set out to measure—using the same validated test each time—the intelligence of every Scottish child 11 years of age. The stated impetus for the Surveys was a fear that average Scottish intelligence was declining. But when investigators compared the results of the 1947 Survey with those from 1932 their predictions were completely upended. Instead of average intelligence declining, it had risen, substantially. The author argues that based on a study of the relevant ecosystems in place in Scotland at the time the increase in intelligence resulted from a decline in lead body burden. There is no evidence that the children were tested for lead. The decline is thought to have closely followed a fall in occupational lead use, a heightened awareness of the dangers of lead-solvency, improvements in lead plumbing in working-class homes, and a national campaign to improve the nutrition of women and children. Evidence shows that milk consumption in Scotland increased sharply, especially among children, beginning in the mid-1930s, just prior to and following the birth of the second cohort. This provided a source of calcium in a diet that had shown signs of deficiency. Evidence also suggests that lead contamination, from lead water pipes and industrial sources, was widely prevalent in Scotland in the early part of the twentieth century.

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“…All the studies to be cited find that the IQof the high-lead group is lower than that of the low-lead group by 2-11 points. Some find that the difference between groups is still significant when confounders are allowed for (Fergusson, Fergusson, Horwood & Kinzett, 1988;Hansen, Trillingsgaard, Beese, Lyngbye & Grandjean, 1988;Hatzakis ^/«/., 1988;Needleman ^/a/., 1979;Yule, Urbanowicz, Lansdown & Millar, 1984); others find that statistical significance disappears (Lansdown, Yule, Urbanowicz & Hunter, 1986;Smith, Delves, Lansdown, Clayton & Graham, 1983;Landrigan ^^ «/., 1975;McNeil & Ptasnik, 1975;Ratcliffe, 1977;Winneke, Hrdina & Brockhaus, 1982). I have reviewed these studies in more detail elsewhere, and could not account for the disparities on the basis of details of methodology (Taylor, in press).…”

Section: Developmental Neuropsychiatrymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some analyses have tried to allow for this statistically. For example, Fergusson et al (1988) used the symptom of pica as an index of self-exposure, and concluded that this pathway could not account for the whole of the lead-behaviour association. The argument, however, is not sufficient.…”

Section: Developmental Neuropsychiatrymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The situation can be improved by taking measures at more than one point in time. Fergusson et al (1988) applied modelling techniques to longitudinal data from a birth cohort study; the correlation between latent dimensions of behavioural disturbance and lead burden could therefore be estimated, and were increased by this procedure.…”

Section: Developmental Neuropsychiatrymentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Developmental Neuropsychiatry

Taylor

1991

Child Psychology Psychiatry

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A Longitudinal Study of Dentine Lead Levels, Intelligence, School Performance and Behaviour

Cited by 74 publications

References 17 publications

Do hypertensive diseases of pregnancy disrupt neurocognitive development in offspring?

Do hypertensive diseases of pregnancy disrupt neurocognitive development in offspring?

Lead Poisoning and Intelligence: A Search for Cause and Effect in the Scottish Mental Surveys

Developmental Neuropsychiatry

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