Background

Exposure to perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) may impact children's neurodevelopment.

Objective

To examine the association of prenatal and early childhood serum PFAS concentrations with children's reading skills at ages 5 and 8 years.

Methods

We used data from 167 mother-child pairs recruited during pregnancy (2003–2006) in Cincinnati, OH, quantified prenatal serum PFAS concentrations at 16 ± 3 weeks of gestation and childhood sera at ages 3 and 8 years. We assessed children's reading skills using Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement III at age 5 years and Wide Range Achievement Test-4 at age 8 years. We used general linear regression to quantify the covariate-adjusted associations between natural log-transformed PFAS concentrations and reading skills, and used multiple informant model to identify the potential windows of susceptibility.

Results

Median serum PFASs concentrations were PFOS > PFOA > PFHxS > PFNA in prenatal, 3-year, and 8-year children. The covariate-adjusted general linear regression identified positive associations between serum PFOA, PFOS and PFNA concentrations and children's reading scores at ages 5 and 8 years, but no association between any PFHxS concentration and reading skills. The multiple informant model showed: a) Prenatal PFOA was positively associated with higher children's scores in Reading Composite (β: 4.0, 95% CI: 0.6, 7.4 per a natural log unit increase in exposure) and Sentence Comprehension (β: 4.2, 95% CI: 0.5, 8.0) at age 8 years; b) 3-year PFOA was positively associated with higher children's scores in Brief Reading (β: 7.3, 95% CI: 0.9, 13.8), Letter Word Identification (β: 6.6, 95% CI: 1.1, 12.0), and Passage Comprehension (β: 5.9, 95% CI: 1.5, 10.2) at age 5 years; c) 8-year PFOA was positively associated with higher children's Word Reading scores (β: 5.8, 95% CI: 0.8, 10.7) at age 8 years. Prenatal PFOS and PFNA were positively associated with children's reading abilities at age 5 years, but not at age 8 years; 3-year PFOS and PFNA were positively associated with reading scores at age 5 years. But PFHxS concentrations, at any exposure windows, were not associated with reading skills.

Conclusion

Prenatal and childhood serum PFOA, PFOS and PFNA concentrations were positively associated with better children's reading skills at ages 5 and 8 years, but no association was found between serum PFHxS and reading skills.

中文翻译：

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5至8岁的产前和儿童全氟烷基物质暴露量和儿童阅读技能

背景

暴露于全氟烷基物质（PFAS）可能会影响儿童的神经发育。

客观的

要检查产前和幼儿血清PFAS浓度与5岁和8岁儿童的阅读技能之间的关系。

方法

我们使用了在俄亥俄州辛辛那提市（加利福尼亚州辛辛那提市）在怀孕期间（2003年至2006年）招募的167对母子对的数据，对妊娠16±3周时的产前血清PFAS浓度以及3岁和8岁时的儿童血清进行了定量。我们使用5岁时的Woodcock-Johnson成就测验III和8岁时的广泛成就测验4评估了儿童的阅读技能。我们使用一般线性回归来量化自然对数转换后的PFAS浓度和阅读技巧之间的协变量调整关联，并使用多重信息模型来识别潜在的易感性窗口。

结果

产前，3岁和8岁儿童的血清PFAS浓度中位数为PFOS> PFOA> PFHxS> PFNA。经协变量调整的一般线性回归确定了血清PFOA，PFOS和PFNA浓度与5岁和8岁儿童阅读得分之间的正相关关系，但任何PFHxS浓度与阅读技能之间均没有相关性。多元信息模型显示：a）产前PFOA与儿童阅读综合评分（β：4.0、95％CI：0.6、7.4，自然暴露单位增加的自然对数单位）和句子理解（β：4.2、95）的较高分数呈正相关。 8岁时的％CI：0.5、8.0）；b）3年PFOA与简短阅读（β：7.3，95％CI：0.9，13.8），字母识别（β：6.6，95％CI：1.1，12.0）和通过理解的较高儿童分数呈正相关（β：5.9，95％CI：1.5，10.2）5岁; c）8岁时8岁PFOA与较高的儿童单词阅读分数呈正相关（β：5.8，95％CI：0.8，10.7）。产前全氟辛烷磺酸和全氟辛烷磺酸与5岁儿童的阅读能力呈正相关，但与8岁儿童无关。3岁的全氟辛烷磺酸和全氟辛烷磺酸与5岁时的阅读成绩呈正相关。但是，在任何暴露窗口中，PFHxS的浓度均与阅读技能无关。

结论

产前和儿童血清PFOA，PFOS和PFNA的浓度与5岁和8岁儿童的阅读能力提高呈正相关，但血清PFHxS与阅读能力之间没有关联。