Prenatal exposure to perfluoroalkyl substances predicts multimodal brain structural and functional outcomes in children aged 5 years: a birth cohort study

作者：Barron A, Dickens AM, Tuulari JJ, Hyötylainen T, Kortesluoma S, Merisaari H, Pulli EP, Silver E, Kumpulainen V, Copeland A, Saukko E, Lewis JD, Karlsson L, Orešič M, Karlsson H · 发表于：The Lancet. Planetary health · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1016/j.lanplh.2025.101309

BACKGROUND: Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are ubiquitous persistent organic pollutants associated with adverse health outcomes in humans. Although they are associated with autism spectrum disorder and behavioural outcomes, whether PFAS affect brain development is unclear. We aimed to characterise the relationship between maternal PFAS and brain structure and function in typically developing children. METHODS: This study was set within the FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study, a prospective observational study that enrolled mothers from three clinics in Turku, Finland, during their first trimester of pregnancy. Maternal serum samples at gestational week 24 were analysed for PFAS by mass spectrometry and, at age 5 years, children were assessed through structural, diffusion-weighted, and functional MRI. Whole-brain voxel-level and vertex-level maps of grey matter volume, white matter fractional anisotropy and mean diffusivity, and cortical thickness and surface area were combined to compute ten independent components. Data were analysed by correlation network, elastic net regression, and multivariate linear regression with multiple testing correction. FINDINGS: Pregnant mothers were enrolled into the birth cohort study between Dec 1, 2011, and April 30, 2015, and study visits at age 5 years took place between Oct 1, 2017, and March 31, 2020. This analysis involved 51 mother-child dyads for whom maternal PFAS concentrations and structural MRI data for the child w...