Effects of early exposure to phthalates on cognitive development and visual behavior at 24 months.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Studies focusing on the neurodevelopmental effects of phthalates seldom consider exposure during infancy, a critical period for brain development. Most rely on parent-completed questionnaires to assess child neurodevelopment, which may be subject to reporting error. We studied the associations between prenatal and infancy exposure to phthalates and objective measures of neurodevelopment at the age of two.

METHODS

We relied on 151 mother-child pairs from the SEPAGES mother-child cohort. Women were asked to collect three spot urine samples per day over seven consecutive days during the second (median: 18.0 gestational weeks) and third (median: 34.2 gestational weeks) trimesters of pregnancy. They then collected one urine sample per day over seven consecutive days from their infants around the age of 12 months. Metabolites of phthalates and non-phthalate plasticizers were measured in within-subject and within-period pools of repeated urine samples. Eye tracking tasks were performed at two years allowing to compute four indicators linked with cognitive development and visual behavior: mean fixation duration, novelty preference, percent time spent looking at the eyes and mean reaction time.

RESULTS

Pre-natal exposure to monobenzyl phthalate at the second and third trimesters was associated with shorter fixation durations. In models allowing for interaction with child sex, these associations were only observed among girls. Exposure to di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate at the third but not the second trimester was associated with increased time spent looking at a novel face and eyes. We observed faster reaction times and decreased time spent looking at the eyes in a face recognition task, with increased post-natal exposure to monoethyl, mono-iso-butyl and mono-n-butyl phthalates.

DISCUSSION

Relying on improved exposure assessment, we highlighted associations of pre- and post-natal exposure to phthalates with indicators derived from eye tracking tasks, mainly in girls. Some of these indicators have been affected in individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders.