ArticleEpigenetics2013
Sex-specific effects of early life cadmium exposure on DNA methylation and implications for birth weight.
Article in Epigenetics, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 100 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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
100 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 204 citations in OpenAlex.
- Association of maternal exposure to trace elements and toxic metals with repeated measurements of foetal and early-childhood growth: a systematic review.Occupational and environmental medicine · 2025Pooled it
- Prenatal Exposure to Potentially Toxic Metals and Their Effects on Genetic Material in Offspring: a Systematic Review.Biological trace element research · 2023Pooled it
- 'Omics in environmental epidemiological studies of chemical exposures: A systematic evidence map.Environment international · 2022Pooled it
- Environmental Epigenetic Changes, as Risk Factors for the Development of Diseases in Children: A Systematic Review.Annals of global health · 2018Pooled it
- Ubiquitous Environmental Exposures and Risk of Hepatocellular Carcinoma: A Narrative Review.Digestive diseases and sciences · 2026Review
- Prenatal and childhood exposures to heavy metals and their associations with child cognition, motor skills, behaviour and mental health.Essays in biochemistry · 2025Review
- Epigenetic reprogramming by air pollution: linking prenatal exposures to birth outcomes.Molecular and cellular biochemistry · 2025Review
- Article
- Examining the Relationships Between Blood Cadmium, DNA Methylation Biomarker, Telomere Length, and Their Associations with Mortality in U.S. Adults.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Dietary Iron Supplementation Protects Against Growth Restriction and Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease in Perinatal Cadmium-Exposed Mice.FASEB bioAdvances · 2025Article
- Placental cadmium and its association with maternal diet and offspring growth in Koreans.Nutrition research and practice · 2025Article
- The effects of developmental cadmium exposure on health and disease.Disease models & mechanisms · 2025Review
- Environmental pollutants and atherosclerosis: Epigenetic mechanisms linking genetic risk and disease.Atherosclerosis · 2025Review
- Current Understanding of Sex Differences in Metal-Induced Diseases.Current environmental health reports · 2025Review
- Molecular signature of cadmium-mediated neurodevelopmental disorders in prenatal to postnatal stages.EXCLI journal · 2025Review
- Review
- Associations between Urinary Mercury/Cadmium Concentrations and Anthropometric Features in Korean Children.Toxics · 2024Article
- Prenatal Exposure to Heavy Metals and Adverse Birth Outcomes: Evidence From an E-Waste Area in China.GeoHealth · 2023Article
- Parent-Offspring Associations in Body Composition: Findings From the Southampton Women's Survey Prospective Cohort Study.The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism · 2023Article
- Prenatal Cadmium Exposure and Maternal Sex Steroid Hormone Concentrations across Pregnancy.Toxics · 2023Article
40 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
9 authors at 5 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Dietary cadmium exposure was recently found to alter DNA methylation in adults, but data on effects early in life are lacking. Our objective was to evaluate associations between prenatal cadmium exposure, DNA methylation and birth weight. In total 127 mother-child pairs from rural Bangladesh were studied. For comparison, we included 56 children at 4.5 y. Cadmium concentrations in mothers' blood (gestational week 14) and children's urine were measured by ICPMS. Global DNA methylation was analyzed by Infinium HumanMethylation450K BeadChip in cord blood and children's blood. Maternal cadmium exposure was associated with cord blood DNA methylation (p-value < 10 (-16) ). The association was markedly sex-specific. In boys, 96% of the top 500 CpG sites showed positive correlations (rS-values > 0.50), whereas most associations in girls were inverse; only 29% were positive (rS > 0.45). In girls we found overrepresentation of methylation changes in genes associated with organ development, morphology and mineralization of bone, whereas changes in boys were found in cell death-related genes. Several individual CpG sites that were positively associated with cadmium were inversely correlated with birth weight, although none statistically significant after correction for multiple comparisons. The associations were, however, fairly robust in multivariable-adjusted linear regression models. We identified CpG sites that were significantly associated with cadmium exposure in both newborns and 4.5-y-old children. In conclusion, cadmium exposure in early life appears to alter DNA methylation differently in girls and boys. This is consistent with previous findings of sex-specific cadmium toxicity. Cadmium-related changes in methylation were also related to lower birth weight.
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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.