Prenatal plasma concentrations of Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances and neuropsychological development in children at four years of age

OBJECTIVE: Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are persistent pollutants and have endocrine disruptive and neurotoxic effects. The association between maternal PFAS concentrations and neuropsychological development in children is inconclusive. The present study aimed to examine the effect of maternal PFAS concentrations on neuropsychological development in 4-years-old children. METHODS: We used data from Shanghai-Minhang Birth Cohort, which recruited pregnant women at 12–16 gestational weeks. Among 981 women having PFAS measurement, 533 mother-child pairs were included in the study. A total of eight PFASs were measured, including perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluorohexane sulfonate (PFHxS), perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA), perfluorodecanoic acid (PFDA), perfluoroundecanoic acid (PFUdA), perfluorododecanoic acid (PFDoA), and perfluorotridecanoic acid (PFTrDA). When infants turned 4 years old, mothers were asked to complete the Ages and Stages Questionnaires® (ASQ) to assess neuropsychological development of their children. Poisson regression model with robust variance estimates was used to examine the association between maternal PFAS concentrations and each developmental subscale of the ASQ. RESULTS: Prenatal plasma concentrations of most PFASs tended to be associated with increased risk of development problem in personal-social skills, including PFHxS, PFOS, PFOA, PFNA, PFDA, and PDUdA, and the associations for PFNA and PFDA were significant (per natural log unit increase: RR(PFNA) = 1.92, 95% CI: 1.21, 3.05; RR (PFDA) = 1.66, 95% CI: 1.17, 2.37). In stratified analyses by child’ sex, the consistent pattern of higher risk of developmental problems in personal-social skills associated with most PFASs was mainly observed among girls (RR(PFOS) = 2.56, 95% CI: 1.20, 5.45; RR(PFOA) = 9.00, 95% CI: 3.82, 21.21; RR(PFNA) = 3.11, 95% CI: 1.36, 7.13; RR(PFDA) = 2.20, 95% CI: 1.21, 4.00; RR(PFUdA) = 2.44, 95% CI: 1.14, 5.20; RR(PFDoA) = 1.62, 95% CI: 1.04, 2.54). Boys with higher maternal PFOA concentrations had a decreased risk of developmental problems in gross motor skills (RR = 0.47, 95% CI: 0.25, 0.89). CONCLUSION: Prenatal plasma PFAS concentrations were associated with neuropsychological development in girls at 4 years of age, mainly in the subset of personal-social skills. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12940-019-0493-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.