Cincinnati Children's experts found that
gestational exposure to flame-retardant chemicals leads to
long-term mental health consequences
CINCINNATI, July 19,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- A long-running Cincinnati
Children's study that tracks exposures to environmental toxicants
reports that 12-year-old children exposed prior to birth to
elevated levels of a common type of flame retardant shows
continuing associations with increased behavioral problems.
Details were published recently in Environmental
Research.
The new findings focus on gestational exposures to
polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), flame-retardant chemicals
that can be found in building materials, upholstered furniture and
electronic equipment. Information about children exposed to these
chemicals comes from the Health Outcomes and Measures of the
Environment (HOME) Study, which Cincinnati Children's launched in
2003.
The PBDE analysis was led by Kimberly Yolton, PhD, Division of General and
Community Pediatrics, and Kim
Cecil, PhD, Imaging Research Center.
WHAT IS THE HOME STUDY?
The HOME Study at Cincinnati Children's, headed by Yolton, was
launched in 2003 to study how exposures to environmental toxicants,
from the fetal stage through childhood, can affect health, growth
and neurobehavioral outcomes.
The study initially recruited 468 pregnant women from 2003 to
2006. Research staff collected maternal and cord blood samples to
detect various toxicants and monitored the children until
adolescence. The initial focus was on lead, mercury,
polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), tobacco smoke and pesticides, but
other toxicants have been added over time.
Research on the impact of gestational PBDE exposure began in
2016. Even though PBDEs are no longer produced, Yolton and Cecil
say it is essential to track the effects because this group of
chemicals is still found in our homes and workplaces and persists
in the environment.
GESTATIONAL PBDE CONCENTRATIONS ASSOCIATED WITH BEHAVIOR
PROBLEMS
The study included data from 237 adolescents, 56% of whom were
female. The team found that two related chemicals, BDE-47 and
BDE-28, were the most abundant forms of PBDEs detected—and both
demonstrated measurable associations with behavior, including more
frequent reports of inattention and hyperactivity, internalizing
problems, functional impairments and emotional symptoms that were
reported by both the adolescents and their caregivers.
Each 10-fold increase in BDE-28 concentration led to a +1/2
standard deviation on a standard behavioral survey. Moreover, the
impact appears to reach back to the gestational exposure because
the adolescents' current PBDE blood concentrations did not appear
to alter the findings, the researchers found.
While Yolton and Cecil did not focus on the clinical diagnosis
of internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors among
adolescents, Yolton shared a 2022 study where 17% of HOME Study
adolescents had scores that exceeded the clinically significant
threshold for generalized anxiety.
Yolton shared unpublished data where 7% of this population
reported clinically relevant symptoms of depression. She also noted
that based on the test publisher's classification of symptom
significance, 11% of that population would have a "very elevated"
depression score.
EXPOSURES MAY DWINDLE BUT IMPACTS LINGER
"This research is important with PBDEs because they don't create
a chemical bond. The result is that the PBDEs are sprayed on
products but then can flake off. Children and people easily take
them in through ingestion, inhalation and absorption," Cecil
says.
Exposure to PBDEs in the environment will slowly decrease as
products containing these flame retardants are recycled or
destroyed. But monitoring remains important because so far, there
are no known ways to reverse the impact.
Yolton and Cecil predict that the longitudinal findings from the
HOME Study will open up avenues of research exploring how to
intervene with children and adolescents affected by PBDEs and other
toxicants.
"We don't know how these adolescents will respond to standard
practices or if there needs to be an adjustment in intervention
strategies based on the exposure," Cecil says.
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SOURCE Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center