Abstract
Background
Early bisphenol exposure may have consequences for executive function development, but less is known about potential sex effects. We hypothesized that early bisphenol A (BPA) and bisphenol S (BPS) exposures would be associated with sex-dependent changes in preschool executive function.
Methods
A subsample of the Alberta Pregnancy Outcomes and Nutrition (APrON) cohort (n = 312) provided maternal second trimester (prenatal) and 3-month postpartum (postnatal) urine samples, from which BPA and BPS concentrations were quantified. When children were age 2 and 4, mothers completed the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function-Preschool Version (BRIEF-P). Changes in standardized T scores on the BRIEF-P indexes of inhibitory self-control, flexibility, and emergent metacognition were investigated.
Results
Adjusted multivariate regression analyses showed that child sex modified the associations between maternal postnatal BPA and changes in executive function. Higher maternal postnatal BPA concentrations predicted increasing difficulties from age 2 to 4 in the domains of inhibitory self-control and emergent metacognition in female, but not male children. The other bisphenol concentrations were not associated with changes in executive function.
Conclusion
Due to the ubiquity of BPA exposure among breastfeeding women, these findings justify further investigation on the effects of postnatal bisphenol exposure on child cognitive development.
Impact
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Higher concentrations of maternal BPA at 3-month postpartum were associated with increasing difficulties in inhibitory self-control and emergent metacognition from age 2 to 4 in girls, but not boys.
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Prenatal BPA and prenatal/postnatal BPS were not significant predictors of changes in executive function in boys and girls.
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The current study extends previous research to show that maternal postnatal BPA could also impact child executive function.
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Due to the ubiquity of BPA exposure among breastfeeding women, the current findings suggest that additional precautions may be needed to protect infants’ neurodevelopment from indirect exposure to BPA.
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Acknowledgements
We thank the clinicians, psychometricians, research coordinators, and all other staff who made this study possible. Mostly importantly, we also thank the children and their families who participated in this study. We acknowledge the significant contributions of the APrON Study Team whose individual members are: B.J. Kaplan, C.J. Field, D. Dewey, R.C. Bell, F.P. Bernier, M. Cantell, L.M. Casey, M. Eliasziw, M. Farmer, A. Gagnon, G.F. Giesbrecht, L. Goonewardene, D.W. Johnston, L. Kooistra, C. Lebel, N. Letourneau, D.P. Manca, J.W. Martin, I.J. McCargar, M. O’Beirne, V.J. Pop, N. Singhal. Funding to establish the APrON cohort was provided by an interdisciplinary team grant from the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research. The collection and analysis of data presented in this manuscript was supported by grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (MOP-123535) and the U.S. National Institutes of Health (Exploration/Development Grant 1R21ES021295-01R21). Salary support was provided by a Neurodevelopmental Disorders Fellowship from the Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundation (GE) and an Alberta Innovates-Health Solutions Scholarship and Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry University of Alberta Medical Science Graduate Program Scholarship (J.L.).
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All authors provided substantial contributions to one or more of the following aspects of the submitted work: conception and design, acquisition of data, and/or analysis and interpretation of data. D.D. and G.E.-M. were responsible for the conception and design of the current submission. D.D., G.F.G., N.L., J.L., and J.W.M. were responsible for the acquisition of data. G.E.-M. was responsible for the data analysis and drafted the initial manuscript. All authors critically reviewed and revised the manuscript for important intellectual content and approved the final version for submission and publication.
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England-Mason, G., Liu, J., Martin, J.W. et al. Postnatal BPA is associated with increasing executive function difficulties in preschool children. Pediatr Res 89, 686–693 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41390-020-0922-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41390-020-0922-6
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