ArticleNeurotoxicology2017
Effects of low-level prenatal lead exposure on child IQ at 4 and 8 years in a UK birth cohort study.
Article in Neurotoxicology, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 32 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
32 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 57 citations in OpenAlex.
- Sex difference of pre- and post-natal exposure to six developmental neurotoxicants on intellectual abilities: a systematic review and meta-analysis of human studies.Environmental health : a global access science source · 2023Pooled it
- Environmental lead exposure and clinical infectious respiratory disease in a sample of urban and disadvantaged children.Journal of exposure science & environmental epidemiology · 2026Article
- Lead and mercury exposure in pregnant women in the UK: a cross-sectional observational study (the PEAR Study).BMJ open · 2026Observational
- Direct and indirect effects of smoking during pregnancy on child development: The Japan Environment and Children's Study.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Current Understanding of Sex Differences in Metal-Induced Diseases.Current environmental health reports · 2025Review
- Seafood intake in children at age 7 years and neurodevelopmental outcomes in an observational cohort study (ALSPAC).European journal of nutrition · 2025Observational
- Mitofilin-mtDNA Axis Mediates Chronic Lead Exposure-Induced Synaptic Plasticity Impairment of Hippocampal and Cognitive Deficits.Biomolecules · 2025Article
- Remediation options to reduce bioaccessible and bioavailable lead and arsenic at a smelter impacted site - consideration of treatment efficacy.Environmental pollution (Barking, Essex : 1987) · 2024Article
- Assessing lead exposure in U.S. pregnant women using biological and residential measurements.The Science of the total environment · 2023Article
- Prenatal Lead Exposure, Genetic Factors, and Cognitive Developmental Delay.JAMA network open · 2023Article
- Review
- Determinants of Exposure to Potentially Toxic Metals in Pregnant Women of the DSAN-12M Cohort in the Recôncavo Baiano, Brazil.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- No association between prenatal lead exposure and neurodevelopment during early childhood in the Japan Environment and Children's Study.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Maternal blood metal concentrations are associated with C-reactive protein and cell adhesion molecules among pregnant women in Puerto Rico.Environmental epidemiology (Philadelphia, Pa.) · 2022Article
- Umbilical cord serum elementomics of 52 trace elements and early childhood neurodevelopment: Evidence from a prospective birth cohort in rural Bangladesh.Environment international · 2022Article
- Association between placental toxic metal exposure and NICU Network Neurobehavioral Scales (NNNS) profiles in the Rhode Island Child Health Study (RICHS).Environmental research · 2022Article
- Environmental Tobacco Smoke and Early Language Difficulties among U.S. Children.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- Chemical mixture exposures during pregnancy and cognitive abilities in school-aged children.Environmental research · 2021Article
- Correlation between concentrations of four heavy metals in cord blood and childhood blood of Jamaican children.Journal of environmental science and health. Part A, Toxic/hazardous substances & environmental engineering · 2021Article
- Associations of metals and neurodevelopment: a review of recent evidence on susceptibility factors.Current epidemiology reports · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThe association between childhood exposure to lead (Pb) and deficits in cognitive function is well established. The association with prenatal exposure, however, is not well understood, even though the potential adverse effects are equally important.
objectivesTo evaluate the association between low prenatal exposure to lead and IQ in children, to determine whether there were sex differences in the associations, and to evaluate the moderation effect of prenatal Pb exposure on child IQ.
methodsWhole blood samples from pregnant women enrolled in ALSPAC (n=4285) and from offspring at age 30 months (n=235) were analysed for Pb. Associations between prenatal blood lead concentrations (B-Pb) and child IQ at age 4 and 8 years (WPPSI and WISC-III, respectively) were examined in adjusted regression models.
resultsThere was no association of prenatal lead exposure with child IQ at 4 or 8 years old in adjusted regression models, and no moderation of the association between child B-Pb and IQ. However, there was a positive association for IQ at age 8 years in girls with a predicted increase in IQ (points) per 1μg/dl of: verbal 0.71, performance 0.57, total 0.73. In boys, the coefficients tended to be negative (-0.15, -0.42 and -0.29 points, respectively).
conclusionPrenatal lead exposure was not associated with adverse effects on child IQ at age 4 or 8 years in this study. There was, however, some evidence to suggest that boys are more susceptible than girls to prenatal exposure to lead. Further investigation in other cohorts is required.
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.