Observational studyEnvironment international2018
Prenatal lead, cadmium and mercury exposure and associations with motor skills at age 7 years in a UK observational birth cohort.
Observational study in Environment international, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers, 2 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.
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Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 40 citations in OpenAlex.
- Neurodevelopmental Outcomes Associated with Early-Life Exposure to Heavy Metals: A Systematic Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Pooled it
- Effects of Prenatal Arsenic, Cadmium, and Manganese Exposure on Neurodevelopment in Children: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2025Pooled it
- A novel approach to assessing the joint effects of mercury and fish consumption on neurodevelopment in the New Bedford Cohort.American journal of epidemiology · 2025Article
- Does maternal low-dose cadmium exposure increase the risk of offspring to develop metabolic syndrome and/or type 2 diabetes?Life sciences · 2023Review
- Association between gestational levels of toxic metals and essential elements and cerebral palsy in children.Frontiers in neurology · 2023Article
- Article
- Associations among prenatal and postnatal arsenic, lead, and cadmium exposures and motor development in 3-year-old children: a longitudinal birth cohort study in Taiwan.Environmental science and pollution research international · 2022Article
- Sex-specific neurotoxic effects of heavy metal pollutants: Epidemiological, experimental evidence and candidate mechanisms.Environmental research · 2021Review
- Combined Exposure to Metals in Drinking Water Alters the Dopamine System in Mouse Striatum.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- Risk factors in early life for developmental coordination disorder: a scoping review.Developmental medicine and child neurology · 2021Article
- Leaf ethanolic extract ofToxicological research · 2020Article
- A Birth Cohort Study on the Genetic Modification of the Association of Prenatal Methylmercury With Child Cognitive Development.American journal of epidemiology · 2019Article
- Exploring telomere length in mother-newborn pairs in relation to exposure to multiple toxic metals and potential modifying effects by nutritional factors.BMC medicine · 2019Article
- The ALSPAC Coordination Test (subtests of the Movement ABC): Methodology and data on associations with prenatal exposures to lead, cadmium and mercury.Data in brief · 2018Article
- Assessing ototoxicity due to chronic lead and cadmium intake with and without noise exposure in the mature mouse.Journal of toxicology and environmental health. Part A · 2018Article
- Exposure to Environmental Organic Mercury and Impairments in Human Fertility.Journal of reproduction & infertilityArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundLead and mercury are freely transferred across the placenta, while cadmium tends to accumulate in the placenta. Each contributes to adverse neurological outcomes for the child. Although prenatal heavy metal exposure has been linked with an array of neurodevelopmental outcomes in childhood, its association with the development of motor skills in children has not been robustly studied. AIMS/
objectiveThe aim of the present study was to investigate the association between prenatal exposure to lead, cadmium and mercury, measured as maternal blood concentrations during pregnancy, and motor skills, measured as subtests of the Movement Assessment Battery for Children (Movement ABC) at age 7 years in a large sample of mother-child pairs enrolled in a UK observational birth cohort study (Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, ALSPAC).
methodsWhole blood samples from pregnant women enrolled in ALSPAC were analysed for lead, cadmium and mercury. In a complete case analysis (n = 1558), associations between prenatal blood concentrations and child motor skills assessed by Movement ABC subtests of manual dexterity, ball skills and balance at 7 years were examined in adjusted regression models. Associations with probable developmental coordination disorder (DCD) were also investigated.
resultsThe mean prenatal blood levels were: lead 3.66 ± 1.55 μg/dl; cadmium 0.45 ± 0.54 μg/l; mercury 2.23 ± 1.14 μg/l. There was no evidence for any adverse associations of prenatal lead, cadmium or mercury exposure with motor skills measured at age 7 years with Movement ABC subtests in adjusted regression models. Further, there were no associations with probable DCD.
conclusionsThere was no evidence to support a role of prenatal exposure to heavy metals at these levels on motor skills in the child at age 7 years measured using the Movement ABC. Early identification of symptoms of motor skills impairment is important, however, to enable investigation, assessment and treatment.
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Registered trials
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