Effects of prenatal exposure to multiple heavy metals on infant neurodevelopment: a multi-statistical approach

IF 7.6 2区环境科学与生态学 Q1 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

Environmental Pollution Pub Date : 2025-01-04 DOI:10.1016/j.envpol.2025.125647

Xiruo Kou, Meritxell Pallejà Millán, Josefa Canals, Victoria Rivera Moreno, Stefano Renzetti, Victoria Arija

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Abstract

Prenatal exposure to heavy metals poses risks to fetal brain development, yet the joint effects of these metals remain unclear, with inconsistent findings across statistical models. This study investigates the joint effect of prenatal exposure to cadmium (Cd), nickel (Ni), mercury (Hg), and lead (Pb) on infant neurodevelopment using various statistical approaches. The study included 400 mother-infant pairs. Heavy metal levels were measured in maternal urine samples at the 12th week of gestation, and infant neurodevelopment at 40 days was evaluated by the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development. Generalized Additive Models (GAM), Multivariable Linear Regression (MLR) with restricted cubic spline (RCS), Bayesian Kernel Machine Regression (BKMR), and Weighted Quantile Sum (WQS) regression were applied to explore the associations between heavy metal exposure and neurodevelopmental outcomes. GAM revealed a significant linear relationship for Cd with cognitive scale (p = 0.045) and expressive language (p = 0.043). MLR confirmed that Cd was negatively associated with both cognitive scale (β = -1.47, p = 0.044) and expressive language (β = -0.32, p = 0.019) and RCS presented a non-linear association between Pb and language scale (p = 0.001). BKMR suggested a negative but non-significant association with most outcomes. WQS indicated a significant adverse effect of metal mixture on expressive language (β = -0.26, 95% CI = -0.44, -0.07), identifying Cd and Ni as the primary contributors. Prenatal exposure to heavy metals have detrimental effects on infant neurodevelopment, especially on language development.

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产前暴露于多种重金属对婴儿神经发育的影响：一种多统计方法

产前接触重金属对胎儿大脑发育有风险，但这些金属的共同影响尚不清楚，统计模型的结果不一致。本研究利用各种统计方法探讨了产前接触镉（Cd）、镍（Ni）、汞（Hg）和铅（Pb）对婴儿神经发育的共同影响。这项研究包括了400对母婴。在妊娠第12周时测量母体尿液样本中的重金属水平，并在第40天用贝利婴幼儿发育量表评估婴儿的神经发育。应用广义加性模型（GAM）、限制三次样条多变量线性回归（MLR）、贝叶斯核机回归（BKMR）和加权分位数和回归（WQS）探讨重金属暴露与神经发育结果之间的关系。GAM显示Cd与认知量表（p = 0.045）和表达语言（p = 0.043）呈显著的线性关系。MLR证实Cd与认知量表（β = -1.47, p = 0.044）和表达性语言量表（β = -0.32, p = 0.019）呈负相关，RCS与语言量表呈非线性相关（p = 0.001）。BKMR与大多数结果呈负相关，但不显著。WQS表明，金属混合物对表达性语言有显著的不利影响（β = -0.26, 95% CI = -0.44, -0.07）， Cd和Ni是主要影响因素。产前接触重金属对婴儿神经发育，尤其是语言发育有不利影响。

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来源期刊

Environmental Pollution 环境科学-环境科学

CiteScore

16.00

自引率

6.70%

发文量

2082

审稿时长

2.9 months

期刊介绍： Environmental Pollution is an international peer-reviewed journal that publishes high-quality research papers and review articles covering all aspects of environmental pollution and its impacts on ecosystems and human health. Subject areas include, but are not limited to: • Sources and occurrences of pollutants that are clearly defined and measured in environmental compartments, food and food-related items, and human bodies; • Interlinks between contaminant exposure and biological, ecological, and human health effects, including those of climate change; • Contaminants of emerging concerns (including but not limited to antibiotic resistant microorganisms or genes, microplastics/nanoplastics, electronic wastes, light, and noise) and/or their biological, ecological, or human health effects; • Laboratory and field studies on the remediation/mitigation of environmental pollution via new techniques and with clear links to biological, ecological, or human health effects; • Modeling of pollution processes, patterns, or trends that is of clear environmental and/or human health interest; • New techniques that measure and examine environmental occurrences, transport, behavior, and effects of pollutants within the environment or the laboratory, provided that they can be clearly used to address problems within regional or global environmental compartments.