Occupational pesticide exposure in early pregnancy associated with sex-specific neurobehavioral deficits in the children at school age
Section snippets
Background
Prenatal exposures to neurotoxic or neuroendocrine disrupting chemicals are thought to contribute to impaired neurodevelopment and related disorders (Frye et al., 2012, Grandjean and Landrigan, 2014). Many pesticides possess neurotoxic and endocrine disrupting properties (Andersen et al., 2002, Bjorling-Poulsen et al., 2008). Experimental and epidemiological research suggests that low-dose prenatal and early postnatal pesticide exposure may adversely affect neurodevelopment (Bjorling-Poulsen et
Study population and design
This study is a part of an ongoing prospective study on the effects of pesticide exposure in early pregnancy on the growth and development in these children. From 1996 to 2000, we recruited pregnant women working in greenhouses and referred to the Department of Occupational Health at Odense University Hospital in Denmark for risk assessment of their working conditions and guidance for safe work practices during pregnancy. Following childbirth, their children were first examined at three months
Results
A higher fraction of the unexposed children was from social classes 1–3 (Table 1), mainly because 24 (54.4%) of the newly recruited controls were from social classes 1–3 compared to only 9.5% of the previously recruited unexposed children and 20.5% of the exposed children from the original cohort. More unexposed children had a history of concussion. None of the other characteristics deviated significantly between prenatally pesticide-exposed and unexposed children.
Due to technical problems,
Discussion
In this study, maternal occupational pesticide exposure in early pregnancy was associated with prolonged BAEP latencies in the children and, in the girls, with impaired neurobehavioral function. The results indicate an adverse effect on general intellectual development in girls, with most pronounced effects in domains of language function and to a lesser extent in motor speed and short-term memory functions. No exposure-related effect on neuropsychological function was apparent in the boys.
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Acknowledgments
The study was supported by grants from the Danish Environmental Protection Agency (Grant numbers 669-00102 and 660-00103). We are grateful to the children and families for their participation in the study. We thank Lene Barfod and Mariann Bøllund and the study team for the skilled help with child examinations and the database.
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2021, International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental HealthCitation Excerpt :The developing brain is particularly vulnerable to neurotoxicants, and major windows of vulnerability occur in utero and during early postnatal life (Grandjean and Landrigan, 2014; Rice and Barone, 2000). Several birth cohort studies have reported associations between prenatal exposure to organophosphate and pyrethroid insecticides and impaired childhood neurodevelopment, i.e., cognitive and/or behavioural deficits, although mainly in populations with elevated exposure from occupational or indoor use or from residence in proximity to pesticide-treated agricultural areas (Andersen et al., 2015; Bouchard et al., 2011; Eskenazi et al., 2018; Gunier et al., 2017; Liu et al., 2016; Llop et al., 2013; Rauh et al., 2006; Shelton et al., 2014). A few studies have investigated neurodevelopmental outcomes associated with prenatal organophosphate and pyrethroid exposure in populations considered to be mainly exposed through ingestion of residues in foods (Cartier et al., 2016; Dalsager et al., 2019; Donauer et al., 2016; Jusko et al., 2019; Nkinsa et al., 2020; Tanner et al., 2020; Viel et al., 2015, 2017; Yolton et al., 2013), and the results have been equivocal perhaps in part due to differences in study design.
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2020, Environmental ResearchCitation Excerpt :In addition to performance on neuropsychological tests, neuroanatomical and neurophysiological differences have been reported in those exposed prenatally to OPs. For, example, one study found that prenatal exposure to OPs was associated with prolonged brainstem auditory evoked potential latencies in girls, suggesting that some of these outcomes may have a sex-specific pattern (Andersen et al., 2015). Chlorpyrifos concentrations in umbilical cord blood were associated with cortical thinning and region-specific cortical deformations measured with neuroanatomic imaging data acquired at 5.9–11.2 years of age (Rauh et al., 2012).