Journal article
Prenatal Exposure to Organophosphate Ester Flame Retardants and Child Cognition: Findings from the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes Cohort
Environmental pollution (1987), v 390, 127446
Feb 2026
PMID: 41317781
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
Experimental evidence shows that organophosphate esters (OPEs), common flame retardants and plasticizers, can cause developmental neurotoxicity. We investigated the extent to which prenatal OPE exposure was associated with child cognition. Participants were 831 mother-child pairs from 3 sites in the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Cohort with data on urinary levels of 9 OPE analytes during gestation (2009-2019) and child cognition. Based on detection frequencies, analytes were modeled continuously (adjusted for urinary dilution and log2-transformed), categorically (high/low/non-detect), or dichotomously (detect/non-detect). Children's cognition was measured using the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence or Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children at mean age 5.7 years (SD=0.7). We examined associations of OPE analyte with age- and sex-standardized cognition scores using linear regression with generalized estimating equations to account for clustering within sites. We also tested for effect measure modification by sex. The analyte with the highest detection frequency (96.4%) was diphenyl phosphate (DPHP), a primary metabolite of triphenyl phosphate (TPHP). Higher concentrations of DPHP were associated with lower cognition scores ( per doubling of concentrations=-0.46, 95%CI: -0.90, -0.02). Bis(butoxyethyl) phosphate (BBOEP), bis(1-chloro-2-propyl) phosphate (BCPP), and bis(2-methylphenyl) phosphate (BMPP) above the detection limit (vs. below) were associated with higher cognition scores mainly in boys; but, sex interaction with BMPP was not significant. Prenatal exposure to DPHP, a widely detected OPE, was associated with lower cognitive functioning, though the effect size was small. Given widespread exposure, findings related to this and other OPEs should be further examined in mechanistic studies.
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Details
- Title
- Prenatal Exposure to Organophosphate Ester Flame Retardants and Child Cognition: Findings from the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes Cohort
- Creators
- Akhgar Ghassabian (Corresponding Author) - New York UniversityTaylor Etzel - Johns Hopkins UniversityJennifer L Ames - Kaiser PermanenteThomas G O'Connor - University of RochesterJessie P Buckley - University of North Carolina at Chapel HillSarvenaz Shahin - New York UniversityJulie B Herbstman - Columbia UniversityEmily S Barrett - Rutgers, The State University of New JerseyDonghai Liang - Emory UniversityLisa A Croen - Kaiser PermanenteRebecca J SchmidtLesliam Quirós-Alcalá - Johns Hopkins UniversitySusan L Schantz - University of Illinois Urbana-ChampaignKristen Lyall - Drexel UniversityGiehae Choi - Johns Hopkins UniversityCourtney C Carignan - Michigan State UniversityTracey J Woodruff - University of California, San FranciscoRachel Morello-Frosch - University of California, BerkeleyHyeong-Moo Shin - Baylor UniversityClaudia BussZhongmin Li - New York State Department of HealthKurunthachalam KannanDeborah H Bennett - University of California, DavisECHO Cohort Consortium
- Publication Details
- Environmental pollution (1987), v 390, 127446
- Publisher
- Elsevier
- Number of pages
- 9
- Grant note
- Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program, Office of the Director, National Institutes of Health: U2COD023375, U24OD023382, U24OD023319 Office of Behavioral and Social Science Research (Measurement Core): U24OD035523, ES0266542, U24ES026539, U2CES026533, U2CES026542, U2CES030859, U2CES030857, U2CES026555, U2CES026561, U2CES030851, UG3/UH3OD023251, UH3OD023320, UG3OD035546, UH3OD023332, UG3/UH3OD023253, UG3/UH3OD023248, UG3OD035526, UG3/UH3OD023313, UH3OD023328, UH3OD023318, UG3/UH3OD023279, UG3/UH3OD023289, UG3/UH3OD023282, UH3OD023287, UG3/UH3OD023365, UG3/UH3OD023244, UH3OD023275, UH3OD023271, UG3OD035528, UH3OD023347, UG3/UH3OD023389, UG3/UH3OD023344, UH3OD023268, UG3/UH3OD023288, UG3/UH3OD023342, UG3/UH3OD023349, UH3OD023286, UG3OD035533, UG3/UH3OD023348, UG3/UH3OD023285, UG3/UH3OD023290, UG3/UH3OD023272, UG3/UH3OD023249, UG3/UH3OD023305, UG3/UH3OD023337, UG3OD035508, UG3OD035509, UG3OD035513, UG3OD035532, UG3OD035516, UG3OD035517, UG3OD035518, UG3OD035519, UG3OD035521, UG3OD035527, UG3OD035540, UG3OD035543, UG3OD035537, UG3OD035529, UG3OD035542, UG3OD035550, UG3OD035536, UG3OD035544
Research reported in this publication was supported by the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program, Office of the Director, National Institutes of Health, under Award Numbers U2COD023375 (Coordinating Center), U24OD023382 (Data Analysis Center), U24OD023319 with co-funding from the Office of Behavioral and Social Science Research (Measurement Core), U24OD035523 (Lab Core), ES0266542 (HHEAR), U24ES026539 (HHEAR Barbara O'Brien), U2CES026533 (HHEAR Lisa Peterson), U2CES026542 (HHEAR Patrick Parsons, Kannan Kurunthacalam), U2CES030859 (HHEAR Manish Arora), U2CES030857 (HHEAR Timothy R. Fennell, Susan J. Sumner, Xiuxia Du), U2CES026555 (HHEAR Susan L. Teitelbaum), U2CES026561 (HHEAR Robert O. Wright), U2CES030851 (HHEAR Heather M. Stapleton, P. Lee Ferguson), UG3/UH3OD023251 (Akram Alshawabkeh), UH3OD023320 and UG3OD035546 (Judy Aschner), UH3OD023332 (Clancy Blair, Leonardo Trasande), UG3/UH3OD023253 (Carlos Camargo), UG3/UH3OD023248 and UG3OD035526 (Dana Dabelea), UG3/UH3OD023313 (Daphne Koinis Mitchell), UH3OD023328 (Cristiane Duarte), UH3OD023318 (Anne Dunlop), UG3/UH3OD023279 (Amy Elliott), UG3/UH3OD023289 (Assiamira Ferrara), UG3/UH3OD023282 (James Gern), UH3OD023287 (Carrie Breton), UG3/UH3OD023365 (Irva Hertz-Picciotto), UG3/UH3OD023244 (Alison Hipwell), UG3/UH3OD023275 (Margaret Karagas), UH3OD023271 and UG3OD035528 (Catherine Karr), UH3OD023347 (Barry Lester), UG3/UH3OD023389 (Leslie Leve), UG3/UH3OD023344 (Debra MacKenzie), UH3OD023268 (Scott Weiss), UG3/UH3OD023288 (Cynthia McEvoy), UG3/UH3OD023342 (Kristen Lyall), UG3/UH3OD023349 (Thomas O'Connor), UH3OD023286 and UG3OD035533 (Emily Oken), UG3/UH3OD023348 (Mike O'Shea), UG3/UH3OD023285 (Jean Kerver), UG3/UH3OD023290 (Julie Herbstman), UG3/UH3OD023272 (Susan Schantz), UG3/UH3OD023249 (Joseph Stanford), UG3/UH3OD023305 (Leonardo Trasande), UG3/UH3OD023337 (Rosalind Wright), UG3OD035508 (Sheela Sathyanarayana), UG3OD035509 (Anne Marie Singh), UG3OD035513 and UG3OD035532 (Annemarie Stroustrup), UG3OD035516 and UG3OD035517 (Tina Hartert), UG3OD035518 (Jennifer Straughen), UG3OD035519 (Qi Zhao), UG3OD035521 (Katherine Rivera-Spoljaric), UG3OD035527 (Emily S Barrett), UG3OD035540 (Monique Marie Hedderson), UG3OD035543 (Kelly J Hunt), UG3OD035537 (Sunni L Mumford), UG3OD035529 (Hong-Ngoc Nguyen), UG3OD035542 (Hudson Santos), UG3OD035550 (Rebecca Schmidt), UG3OD035536 (Jonathan Slaughter), UG3OD035544 (Kristina Whitworth). The work of E. Barrett is also supported by P30ES005022.The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH.
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Epidemiology and Biostatistics
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:001635557500001
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-105023390692
- Other Identifier
- 991022136465304721
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- Domestic collaboration
- International collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Environmental Sciences