Prenatal and postnatal exposure to PCBs and neurodevelopment of preschoolers living in the PCB-contaminated region

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BACKGROUND: Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) have been associated with several health outcomes including alteration of neurobehavioral development. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of prenatal and postnatal exposure to PCBs on the cognitive development of children at 6 years, living close to the area of former PCBs production. MATERIAL AND METHODS: In the PCB cohort (Eastern Slovakia), PCB congeners were analysed in cord blood and venous blood at 6 years using high-resolution gas chromatography. Cognitive development of children (n = 177) was assessed by Wechsler Preschool & Primary Scale of Intelligence (3rd Edition) at 6 years. Associations between the sum of dioxin-like (DL) and non-dioxin-like (NDL) PCB congeners and verbal (VIQ), performance (PIQ), and full-scale IQ (FSIQ) were analysed using multiple linear regression. The final models were adjusted for maternal education, ethnicity, and HOME scores and for prenatal exposure also for maternal age and parity. RESULTS: Prenatal exposure to DL PCBs was associated with lower VIQ (β = -1.32 CI95 % [-2.51; -0.12]), PIQ (β = -1.91 CI95 % [-3.40; -0.42]), and FSIQ (β = -1.50 CI95 % [-2.58; -0.42]). Postnatal DL PCB exposure was associated with lower VIQ (β = -1.58 CI95 % [-2.82; -0.33]) and FSIQ (β = -1.38 CI95 % [-2.48; -0.28]) but not with PIQ. Regarding NDL PCBs, postnatal exposure was associated with lower FSIQ (β = -1.01 CI95 % [-1.92; -0.11]) and VIQ (β = -1.27 CI95 % [-2.25; -0.30]), however, no significant association was observed for prenatal exposure to NDL PCBs. Analysis of WPPSI-III verbal subtests showed the associations between postnatal NDL and DL PCB exposure and lower scores in the Vocabulary and in the Word Reasoning subtests. CONCLUSION: Our results suggested that both, prenatal and postnatal exposure to PCBs, may influence the cognitive development of young children, even when the PCB exposure is decreasing over time.

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