ArticleEpigenetics2015
Quality control and statistical modeling for environmental epigenetics: a study on in utero lead exposure and DNA methylation at birth.
Article in Epigenetics, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 30 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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
30 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 54 citations in OpenAlex.
- Systemic review of genetic and epigenetic factors underlying differential toxicity to environmental lead (Pb) exposure.Environmental science and pollution research international · 2022Pooled it
- Perinatal Lead (Pb) Exposure Increases Mouse Embryonic Weight and Alters Neuronal Gene Expression.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Increased risk of severe neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome in pregnancies with low placental ABCB1 DNA methylation.Journal of perinatology : official journal of the California Perinatal Association · 2025Article
- DNA Methylation Is a Potential Biomarker for Cardiometabolic Health in Mexican Children and Adolescents.Epigenomes · 2023Article
- Epigenetics and the Exposome: DNA Methylation as a Proxy for Health Impacts of Prenatal Environmental Exposures.Exposome · 2023Article
- Toxicoepigenetics and Environmental Health: Challenges and Opportunities.Chemical research in toxicology · 2022Review
- Global DNA Methylation in Cord Blood as a Biomarker for Prenatal Lead and Antimony Exposures.Toxics · 2022Article
- Developmental toxicant exposures and sex-specific effects on epigenetic programming and cardiovascular health across generations.Environmental epigenetics · 2022Review
- Blood lead levels in Peruvian adults are associated with proximity to mining and DNA methylation.Environment international · 2021Article
- Prenatal Lead (Pb) Exposure and Peripheral Blood DNA Methylation (5mC) and Hydroxymethylation (5hmC) in Mexican Adolescents from the ELEMENT Birth Cohort.Environmental health perspectives · 2021Article
- Early Life Exposure to Aflatoxin B1 in Rats: Alterations in Lipids, Hormones, and DNA Methylation among the Offspring.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- DNA methylation at birth potentially mediates the association between prenatal lead (Pb) exposure and infant neurodevelopmental outcomes.Environmental epigenetics · 2021Article
- Neonatal Lead (Pb) Exposure and DNA Methylation Profiles in Dried Bloodspots.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Article
- Integrative Analysis of Gene-Specific DNA Methylation and Untargeted Metabolomics Data from the ELEMENT Cohort.Epigenetics insights · 2020Article
- The role of environmental exposures and the epigenome in health and disease.Environmental and molecular mutagenesis · 2020Review
- Trimester-Specific Associations of Prenatal Lead Exposure With Infant Cord Blood DNA Methylation at Birth.Epigenetics insights · 2020Article
- Sleep duration and fragmentation in relation to leukocyte DNA methylation in adolescents.Sleep · 2019Article
- Article
- Prenatal epigenetics diets play protective roles against environmental pollution.Clinical epigenetics · 2019Review
- DNA methylation of imprinted genes in Mexican-American newborn children with prenatal phthalate exposure.Epigenomics · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 7 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
Abstract
DNA methylation data assayed using pyrosequencing techniques are increasingly being used in human cohort studies to investigate associations between epigenetic modifications at candidate genes and exposures to environmental toxicants and to examine environmentally-induced epigenetic alterations as a mechanism underlying observed toxicant-health outcome associations. For instance, in utero lead (Pb) exposure is a neurodevelopmental toxicant of global concern that has also been linked to altered growth in human epidemiological cohorts; a potential mechanism of this association is through alteration of DNA methylation (e.g., at growth-related genes). However, because the associations between toxicants and DNA methylation might be weak, using appropriate quality control and statistical methods is important to increase reliability and power of such studies. Using a simulation study, we compared potential approaches to estimate toxicant-DNA methylation associations that varied by how methylation data were analyzed (repeated measures vs. averaging all CpG sites) and by method to adjust for batch effects (batch controls vs. random effects). We demonstrate that correcting for batch effects using plate controls yields unbiased associations, and that explicitly modeling the CpG site-specific variances and correlations among CpG sites increases statistical power. Using the recommended approaches, we examined the association between DNA methylation (in LINE-1 and growth related genes IGF2, H19 and HSD11B2) and 3 biomarkers of Pb exposure (Pb concentrations in umbilical cord blood, maternal tibia, and maternal patella), among mother-infant pairs of the Early Life Exposures in Mexico to Environmental Toxicants (ELEMENT) cohort (n = 247). Those with 10 μg/g higher patella Pb had, on average, 0.61% higher IGF2 methylation (P = 0.05). Sex-specific trends between Pb and DNA methylation (P < 0.1) were observed among girls including a 0.23% increase in HSD11B2 methylation with 10 μg/g higher patella Pb.
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.