Cohort profile: Center for Research on Early Childhood Exposure and Development in Puerto Rico

Environment International

Watkins

Huerta-Montañez

et al. 2021

Self Cite

Background: Infant non-nutritive suck (NNS), or sucking on a pacifier with no nutrients being delivered, has been used as in index of brain function and has been linked to subsequent neurodevelopment. Yet, no data are available connecting NNS to environmental exposures in utero. The goal of this study was to examine the relationship between gestational exposure to phthalates (a group of chemicals found in personal care products, PVC plastics, and other products) and NNS among infants in a birth cohort study in Puerto Rico. Methods: Urinary phthalate metabolite levels were measured in women at up to three time points in pregnancy as a measure of in utero exposure to the child. We calculated the geometric mean of each metabolite for each woman as a measure of exposure across gestation. Infants had their NNS sampled using our custom research pacifier between 4–6 (± 2 weeks) weeks of age, yielding the following NNS dependent measures: cycles/burst, frequency, amplitude, bursts/min, and cycles/min. Results: Two hundred and eight mother-infant dyads completed this study We used multiple linear regression to assess associations between individual phthalate metabolites and NNS measurements, adjusting for infant sex, birthweight, and urinary specific gravity. An interquartile range (IQR) increase in mono carboxyisononyl phthalate across pregnancy was associated with 3.5% (95%CI: −6.2, −0.8%) lower NNS frequency and 8.9% (0.6, 17.3%) higher NNS amplitude. Similarly, an IQR increase in mono-2-ethylhexyl phthalate was also associated with 3.4% (−6.5, −0.2%) lower NNS frequency, while an IQR increase in di-2-ethylhexyl terephthalate metabolites was associated with 11.2% (2.9, 19.5%) higher NNS amplitude. Gestational exposure to phthalates may alter NNS amplitude and frequency in full-term infants. These findings indicate that the infants may be increasing their NNS amplitude to compensate for their slower NNS frequency. These preliminary findings could have important clinical implications for earlier detection of exposure-related deficits in neurofunction as well as implications for subsequent neurodevelopment and related interventions.

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Associations of gestational phthalate exposure and non-nutritive suck among infants from the Puerto Rico Testsite for Exploring Contamination Threats (PROTECT) birth cohort study

Environment International

Watkins

Huerta-Montañez

et al. 2021

Self Cite

“…At the time of this analysis, a total of 1576 PROTECT women had at least one prenatal phthalate metabolite measurement ( Figure 1 ). The outcome measures of child neurodevelopment were collected by the Center for Research on Early Childhood Exposure and Development in Puerto Rico (CRECE), which began in 2016 to track children who were born to PROTECT mothers through the age of four years [ 27 ]. Among the PROTECT participants who (1) met the CRECE recruitment criteria, and (2) were still younger than four years old, 555 babies were enrolled in the CRECE cohort and followed up at multiple time points, including 6–8 months, 12 months, and 24 months.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gestational Exposure to Phthalates and Phthalate Replacements in Relation to Neurodevelopmental Delays in Early Childhood

Park

Huerta-Montañez

et al. 2023

Toxics

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Phthalates have been linked to changes in child neurodevelopment. However, sex-specificity has been reported inconsistently, and little is known about the impact of recent phthalate replacement chemicals. Our analysis included mother–child pairs (N = 274) from the PROTECT birth cohort in Puerto Rico. Phthalate metabolites were measured in multiple maternal urine collected during pregnancy. Neurodevelopment was measured at 6, 12, and 24 months of age using the Battelle Developmental Inventory-2nd edition (BDI), which provides scores for adaptive, personal-social, communication, motor, and cognitive domains. Multivariable linear regression was used to examine associations between phthalate metabolite concentrations and BDI scores, adjusting for maternal age, maternal education, child age, and specific gravity. Sex-specificity was assessed with sex X exposure interaction terms and stratified models. Results show that all five domains were significantly associated with mono-3-carboxypropyl phthalate (MCPP) at age 24 months, suggesting a holistic developmental delay related to this metabolite. Sex-specificity existed for all timepoints (p-interaction < 0.2), in general, showing stronger associations among boys. For example, metabolites of a recent phthalate replacement, di-2-ethylhexyl terephthalate (DEHTP), were differentially associated with the adaptive domain (boys −7.53%/IQR, 95% CI: −14.58, −0.48 vs. girls −0.85%/IQR, 95% CI: −5.08, 3.37), and the cognitive domain (boys −6.05%/IQR, 95% CI: −10.88, −1.22 vs. girls −1.93%/IQR, 95%CI: −4.14, 0.28) at 6 months. To conclude, gestational exposure to phthalates and phthalate replacements was associated with neurodevelopmental delay across multiple domains, with differences by sex and child age.

“…Details on the study cohort are published elsewhere ( Manjourides et al, 2020 ). Briefly, the study population included 198 mother-infant dyads living in the North Shore of Puerto Rico ( Fig.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Infants were measured between 0 and 3 months of age using a pressure transducer attached to a Soothie pacifier. The transducer sent information to ADInstrument’s Power Lab, a data acquisition system, which was connected to a laptop with ADInstrument’s LabChart software ( Manjourides et al, 2020 ). Two minute periods of sucking were analyzed to quantify several measures of NNS, including cycle count, amplitude (cmH 2 0), burst duration (s), frequency (Hz), bursts/min, cycles/min, and cycles/burst.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Non-nutritive suck and airborne metal exposures among Puerto Rican infants

Morton

Honda

Science of The Total Environment

et al. 2021

Self Cite

Air pollution has been shown to impact multiple measures of neurodevelopment in young children. Its effects on particularly vulnerable populations, such as ethnic minorities, however, is less studied. To address this gap in the literature, we assess the associations between infant non-nutritive suck (NNS), an early indicator of central nervous system integrity, and air pollution exposures in Puerto Rico. Among infants aged 0–3 months enrolled in the Center for Research on Early Childhood Exposure and Development (CRECE) cohort from 2017 to 2019, we examined associations between exposure to fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) and its components on infant NNS in Puerto Rico. NNS was assessed using a pacifier attached to a pressure transducer, allowing for real-time visualization of NNS amplitude, frequency, duration, cycles/burst, cycles/min and bursts/min. These data were linked to 9-month average prenatal concentrations of PM 2.5 and components, measured at three community monitoring sites. We used linear regression to examine the PM 2.5 -NNS association in single pollutant models, controlling for infant sex, maternal age, gestational age, and season of birth in base and additionally for household smoke exposure, age at testing, and NNS duration in full models. Among 198 infants, the average NNS amplitude and burst duration was 17.1 cmH 2 O and 6.1 s, respectively. Decreased NNS amplitude was consistently and significantly associated with 9-month average exposure to sulfur (−1.026 ± 0.507), zinc (−1.091 ± 0.503), copper (−1.096 ± 0.535) vanadium (−1.157 ± 0.537), and nickel (−1.530 ± 0.501). Decrements in NNS frequency were associated with sulfur exposure (0.036 ± 0.018), but not other examined PM components. Our findings provide new evidence that prenatal maternal exposure to specific PM components are associated with impaired neurodevelopment in Puerto Rican infants soon after birth.