ArticleEnvironmental health perspectives2010
Prenatal exposure to airborne polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and children's intelligence at 5 years of age in a prospective cohort study in Poland.
Article in Environmental health perspectives, 2010. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 132 papers, 7 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
132 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 335 citations in OpenAlex.
- Air Pollution and Cognitive Impairment across the Life Course in Humans: A Systematic Review with Specific Focus on Income Level of Study Area.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Pooled it
- Impact of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon exposure on cognitive function and neurodegeneration in humans: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in neurology · 2022Pooled it
- Association between exposure to air pollution during intrauterine life and cephalic circumference of the newborn.Environmental science and pollution research international · 2021Pooled it
- A Meta-Analysis of Stressors from the Total Environment Associated with Children's General Cognitive Ability.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Pooled it
- Perinatal Exposure to Environmental Endocrine Disruptors in the Emergence of Neurodevelopmental Psychiatric Diseases: A Systematic Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2019Pooled it
- Outdoor Air Pollution and Brain Structure and Function From Across Childhood to Young Adulthood: A Methodological Review of Brain MRI Studies.Frontiers in public health · 2019Pooled it
- Contributions of a Child's Built, Natural, and Social Environments to Their General Cognitive Ability: A Systematic Scoping Review.PloS one · 2016Pooled it
- Developmental effects of exposures to environmental factors: the Polish Mother and Child Cohort Study.BioMed research international · 2013Trial
- Carcinogenic Health Risk Assessment of Benzo[a]Pyrene Bound to PMEnvironmental toxicology · 2026Article
- Prenatal exposure to particulate matter impairs offspring behavior via hippocampal NMDA receptor reduction: an in vivo and ex vivo study.Environment international · 2026Article
- Article
- In utero air pollution exposure and pre- and postnatal brain development: a review.Neuroscience applied · 2026Review
- Epigenetic changes and their potential reversibility in mental health disorders.Essays in biochemistry · 2025Review
- Impact of fine particulate matter air pollution (PMEnvironment international · 2025Observational
- Article
- Review
- Air pollution exposures in early life and brain development in children (ABC): protocol for a pregnancy cohort study.BMJ paediatrics open · 2025Observational
- An evaluation of in utero polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon exposure on the neonatal meconium microbiome.Environmental research · 2024Article
- Article
- Review
72 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
11 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundIn this prospective cohort study of Caucasian mothers and children in Krakow, Poland, we evaluated the role of prenatal exposure to urban air pollutants in the pathogenesis of neurobehavioral disorders.
objectivesThe objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between prenatal polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) exposure and child intelligence at 5 years of age, controlling for potential confounders suspected to play a role in neurodevelopment.
methodsA cohort of pregnant, healthy, nonsmoking women was enrolled in Krakow, Poland, between 2001 and 2006. During pregnancy, participants were invited to complete a questionnaire and undergo 48-hr personal air monitoring to estimate their babies' exposure, and to provide a blood sample and/or a cord blood sample at the time of delivery. Two hundred fourteen children were followed through 5 years of age, when their nonverbal reasoning ability was assessed using the Raven Coloured Progressive Matrices (RCPM).
resultsWe found that higher (above the median of 17.96 ng/m3) prenatal exposure to airborne PAHs (range, 1.8-272.2 ng/m3) was associated with decreased RCPM scores at 5 years of age, after adjusting for potential confounding variables (n = 214). Further adjusting for maternal intelligence, lead, or dietary PAHs did not alter this association. The reduction in RCPM score associated with high airborne PAH exposure corresponded to an estimated average decrease of 3.8 IQ points.
conclusionsThese results suggest that prenatal exposure to airborne PAHs adversely affects children's cognitive development by 5 years of age, with potential implications for school performance. They are consistent with a recent finding in a parallel cohort in New York City.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.