Organophosphate Pesticide Metabolite Concentrations in Urine during Pregnancy and Offspring Nonverbal IQ at Age 6 Years

Environ Health Perspect. 2019 Jan;127(1):17007. doi: 10.1289/EHP3024.

Abstract

Background: Susceptibility to organophosphate (OP) pesticide neurotoxicity may be greatest during the prenatal period; however, previous studies have produced mixed findings concerning in utero OP pesticide exposure and child cognition.

Objectives: Our objective was to determine whether maternal urinary concentrations of OP pesticide metabolites are inversely associated with child nonverbal IQ at 6 y of age and to examine potential effect measure modification by the PON1 gene.

Methods: Data came from 708 mother–child pairs participating in the Generation R Study. Maternal urine concentrations of six dialkylphosphates (DAPs), collected at [Formula: see text], 18–25, and [Formula: see text] of gestation, were determined. Child nonverbal IQ was measured at 6 y of age using the Mosaics and Categories subtests from the Snijders-Oomen Nonverbal Intelligence Test-Revised. PON1 was determined in cord blood for 474 infants. Multiple linear regression models were fit to estimate the DAP-IQ associations and PON1 interactions.

Results: Overall, associations between child nonverbal IQ and maternal DAP concentrations were small and imprecise, and these associations were inconsistent across urine sampling periods. Howover, for a 10-fold difference in total DAP concentration for the [Formula: see text] of gestation samples, adjusted child nonverbal IQ was 3.9 points lower (95% CI: [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text]). Heterogeneity in the DAP–IQ association by PON1 gene allele status was not observed ([Formula: see text]).

Conclusions: Consistent evidence of an association between higher maternal urinary DAP concentrations and lower child IQ scores at 6 y of age was not observed. There was some evidence for an inverse relation of child nonverbal IQ and late pregnancy urinary DAPs, but the estimated association was imprecise. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP3024.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, N.I.H., Intramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aryldialkylphosphatase / genetics
  • Child
  • Environmental Exposure / adverse effects
  • Female
  • Fetal Blood / chemistry
  • Humans
  • Infant, Newborn
  • Intelligence / drug effects*
  • Intelligence Tests
  • Male
  • Netherlands / epidemiology
  • Organophosphorus Compounds / adverse effects*
  • Organophosphorus Compounds / metabolism
  • Organophosphorus Compounds / urine*
  • Pesticides / adverse effects*
  • Pregnancy / urine
  • Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects / epidemiology*

Substances

  • Organophosphorus Compounds
  • Pesticides
  • Aryldialkylphosphatase
  • PON1 protein, human