Neuropsychological Measures of Attention and Impulse Control among 8-Year-Old Children Exposed Prenatally to Organochlorines

Abstract

Background: We previously reported associations between organochlorines and behaviors related to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder among boys and girls at 8 years of age using a teacher’s rating scale for a birth cohort in New Bedford, Massachusetts (USA).Objectives: Our goal was to corroborate these findings using neuropsychological measures of inattentive and impulsive behaviors.Methods: We investigated the association between cord serum polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and p,p´-dichlorodiphenyl dichloroethylene (p,p´-DDE) and attention and impulse control using a Continuous Performance Test (CPT) and components of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, 3rd edition (WISC-III). Participants came from a prospective cohort of children born during 1993–1998 to mothers residing near a PCB-contaminated harbor in New Bedford. Median (range) cord serum levels for the sum of four prevalent PCBs [congeners 118, 138, 153, and 180 (ΣPCB4)] and p,p´-DDE were 0.19 (0.01–2.59) and 0.31 (0–14.93) ng/g serum, respectively.Results: We detected associations between PCBs and neuropsychological deficits for 578 and 584 children with CPT and WISC-III measures, respectively, but only among boys. For example, boys with higher exposure to ΣPCB4 had a higher rate of CPT errors of omission [rate ratio for the exposure interquartile range (IQR) = 1.12; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.98, 1.27] and slower WISC-III Processing Speed (change in score for the IQR = –2.0; 95% CI: –3.5, –0.4). Weaker associations were found for p,p´-DDE. For girls, associations were in the opposite direction for the CPT and null for the WISC-III.Conclusions: These results support an association between organochlorines (mainly PCBs) and neuropsychological measures of attention among boys only. Sex-specific effects should be considered in studies of organochlorines and neurodevelopment.

In Utero and Childhood Polybrominated Diphenyl Ether (Pbde) Exposures and Neurodevelopment in the Chamacos Study

“…This is the largest study to date on the potential neurodevelopmental impacts of PBDE exposures, and largely supports findings from three smaller studies, including those with substantially lower PBDE serum levels (Gascon et al 2011;Herbstman et al 2010;Hoffman et al 2012;Roze et al 2009). Our results are also similar to those reported between prenatal exposure to PCBs, which are chemically similar to PBDEs, and poorer attention and cognition or mental development in children (Grandjean et al 2001;Jacobson and Jacobson 2003;KoopmanEsseboom et al 1996;Rogan and Gladen 1991;Sagiv et al 2012).…”

PCBs and measures of attention and impulsivity on a continuous performance task of young adults

“…On the other hand, prenatal PCB exposure was related to poorer sustained attention (measured by higher omission errors on the KITAP) of school-aged children in Germany (Neugebauer et al, 2015). Using the NES2 continuous performance test, Sagiv et al (2012a) also found a negative relationship between PCBs and sustained attention but only for boys. Boucher et al (2012) found that current PCB levels (but not prenatal measures) of 11-year old Inuit children were associated with slower reaction times, and with brain activity that suggested reduced error monitoring, on a task requiring selective inhibition of responses to visual stimuli.…”

Assessing new dimensions of attentional functions in children prenatally exposed to environmental contaminants using an adapted Posner paradigm

“…Chronic prenatal exposure to PCBs at low-levels was associated with a reduction of alertness in a sample of newborn infants (Sagiv et al, 2008). In studies conducted at school-age, prenatal PCB exposure was related to executive dysfunctions (Forns et al, 2012b), greater reaction time variability (Sagiv et al, 2012a), inattention Sagiv et al, 2012a), impulsivity Stewart et al, 2003;Stewart et al, 2005) and more ADHD-like behaviours (Sagiv et al, 2010). Postnatal exposure to this M A N U S C R I P T…”