Department of Population Health Science and Policy, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA.
Department of Neurology, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
Environ Health. 2024 Sep 5;23(1):71. doi: 10.1186/s12940-023-01015-5.
Neurodevelopmental performance tasks are often separately analyzed, even when they tap into a similar construct. This may yield mixed findings for associations of an exposure-neurobehavioral outcome. We develop an item response theory (IRT) approach to integrate multiple task variables together to improve measurement precision of the underlying construct. We apply this approach to create an integrative measure of childhood inhibitory control, and study impacts of pre/post-natal lead exposure.
Using data from a prospective cohort based in Mexico (N = 533), we created an inhibitory control scale that integrates accuracy and reaction time information from four inhibitory control tasks (Go/NoGo Letter, Go/NoGo Neutral, Go/NoGo Happy, Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System (D-KEFS) Color-Word Interference Test, Condition 3). Using a generalized partial credit item response theory model, we estimated an inhibitory control index for each participant. We then assessed adjusted associations between umbilical cord blood and 4-year lead and childhood inhibitory control. We developed a resampling approach to incorporate error estimates from the inhibitory control variable to confirm the consistency of the lead-inhibitory control associations. We modeled time-varying associations of lead with each inhibitory control measure separately.
Participants had a median age of 9 years; 51.4% were males. Umbilical cord blood [-0.06 (95% CI: -0.11, -0.01)] and 4-year lead [-0.07 (95% CI: -0.12, -0.02)] were associated with inhibitory control index at 8-10 years. A resampling approach confirmed that 4-year lead was consistently associated with childhood inhibitory control index. Umbilical cord blood and 4-year lead were each associated with 3 out of 8 measures in separate models.
This is the first application of IRT in environmental epidemiology to create a latent variable for inhibitory control that integrates accuracy and reaction time information from multiple, related tasks. This framework can be applied to other correlated neurobehavioral assessments or other phenotype data.
神经发育表现任务通常分别进行分析，即使它们涉及到相似的结构。这可能会导致暴露-神经行为结果之间的关联出现混合结果。我们开发了一种项目反应理论（IRT）方法，将多个任务变量整合在一起，以提高基础结构的测量精度。我们应用这种方法创建了一个儿童抑制控制的综合测量指标，并研究了产前和产后铅暴露的影响。
利用来自墨西哥一项前瞻性队列研究的数据（N=533），我们创建了一个抑制控制量表，该量表整合了四个抑制控制任务（Go/NoGo 字母、Go/NoGo 中性、Go/NoGo 快乐、Delis-Kaplan 执行功能系统（D-KEFS）颜色-单词干扰测试，条件 3）的准确性和反应时间信息。使用广义部分信用项目反应理论模型，我们为每个参与者估计了一个抑制控制指数。然后，我们评估了脐带血和 4 岁时的铅与儿童抑制控制之间的调整关联。我们开发了一种重采样方法，将抑制控制变量的误差估计纳入其中，以确认铅-抑制控制关联的一致性。我们分别对每个抑制控制指标进行了随时间变化的铅关联模型。
参与者的中位年龄为 9 岁；51.4%为男性。脐带血 [-0.06（95%CI：-0.11，-0.01）]和 4 岁时的铅 [-0.07（95%CI：-0.12，-0.02）]与 8-10 岁时的抑制控制指数相关。重采样方法证实，4 岁时的铅与儿童抑制控制指数始终相关。脐带血和 4 岁时的铅分别与 8 个单独模型中的 3 个指标相关。
这是 IRT 在环境流行病学中的首次应用，创建了一个抑制控制的潜在变量，该变量整合了来自多个相关任务的准确性和反应时间信息。该框架可应用于其他相关的神经行为评估或其他表型数据。
