Prenatal serum thallium exposure and cognitive development among preschool-aged children: A prospective cohort study in China

作者：Juan Tong, Chunmei Liang, Xiaoyan Wu, Kung Huang, Beibei Zhu, Hui Gao, Yuanduo Zhu, Zhijuan Li, Juan Qi, Han Yan, Peng Ding, Yumin Zhu, Fangbiao Tao · 发表于：Environmental Pollution · 年份：2021 · DOI：10.1016/j.envpol.2021.118545 · 被引用次数：34 · 研究领域：Thallium and Germanium Studies、Pharmacological Effects and Toxicity Studies、Radiopharmaceutical Chemistry and Applications

Thallium, a highly toxic heavy metal and priority pollutant, has been widely reported to cause neurodevelopmental toxicity in animals. However, accessible epidemiological studies concerning the neurodevelopmental toxicity of early-life thallium exposure in humans are limited. In a prospective birth cohort including 2164 mother-child pairs, we explored the effect of prenatal serum thallium exposure on cognitive development among preschool-aged children born in Ma'anshan, Anhui, China. Serum thallium concentrations were measured in the first trimester, second trimester, third trimester, and cord blood by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Child cognitive development was appraised by the Chinese version of the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence-Fourth Edition (WPPSI-IV) at 4.5 years old. Multiple informants generalized estimating equations (GEEs) were fit to jointly estimate the association between the four repeated measurements of thallium concentrations and the preschool-aged children's cognitive test scores. After adjusting for potential confounders, the visual spatial index (VSI) was 1.45 points lower in the highest tertile of serum thallium during the first trimester than in the lowest tertile (p for trend = 0.04). Moreover, children in the highest tertile of serum thallium during the third trimester had a significantly lower full-scale intelligence quotient (FSIQ) (β = -1.51, 95% CI: -2.68, -0.35), VSI (β = -1.79, 95% CI: -3.16, -0.42)...