ArticleNeurotoxicology and teratology
Prenatal phthalate exposures and autism spectrum disorder symptoms in low-risk children.
Article in Neurotoxicology and teratology. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 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.
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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
14 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 23 citations in OpenAlex.
- Sex-dependent vulnerability to early-life phthalates exposure and autism spectrum disorders: a systematic review.Frontiers in child and adolescent psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- Environmental pollutants as risk factors for autism spectrum disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort studies.BMC public health · 2024Pooled it
- Translational toxicoepigenetic Meta-Analyses identify homologous gene DNA methylation reprogramming following developmental phthalate and lead exposure in mouse and human offspring.Environment international · 2024Pooled it
- Early-life exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals and autistic traits in childhood and adolescence: a systematic review of epidemiological studies.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2023Pooled it
- Gestational exposures to mixtures of multiple chemical classes and autism spectrum disorder in the MARBLES study.Environmental research · 2025Article
- Associating prenatal phthalate exposure with childhood autistic traits: Investigating potential adverse outcome pathways and the modifying effects of maternal vitamin D.Eco-Environment & Health · 2024Article
- Prenatal environmental risk factors for autism spectrum disorder and their potential mechanisms.BMC medicine · 2024Review
- Disrupted Prenatal Metabolism May Explain the Etiology of Suboptimal Neurodevelopment: A Focus on Phthalates and Micronutrients and their Relationship to Autism Spectrum Disorder.Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.) · 2024Review
- Maternal mitochondrial DNA copy number and methylation as possible predictors of pregnancy outcomes in a Michigan pregnancy cohort.Environmental epigenetics · 2024Article
- Epidemiologic Advances Generated by the Human Health Exposure Analysis Resource Program.Current epidemiology reports · 2023Article
- Early-Life Exposure to a Mixture of Phenols and Phthalates in Relation to Child Social Behavior: Applying an Evidence-Based Prioritization to a Cohort with Improved Exposure Assessment.Environmental health perspectives · 2023Review
- Maternal Serum and Placental Metabolomes in Association with Prenatal Phthalate Exposure and Neurodevelopmental Outcomes in the MARBLES Cohort.Metabolites · 2022Article
- A Pathway-Based Genetic Score for Oxidative Stress: An Indicator of Host Vulnerability to Phthalate-Associated Adverse Neurodevelopment.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Prenatal Exposures to Common Phthalates and Prevalent Phthalate Alternatives and Infant DNA Methylation at Birth.Frontiers in genetics · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundPrenatal exposure to environmental chemicals has been associated with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) symptoms in some, but not all, studies, but most research has not accounted for other childhood behavior problems.
objectivesTo evaluate the specific associations of prenatal phthalate exposures with ASD symptoms in children (ages 3-6) accounting for other behavior problems, and to assess sex differences in these associations.
methodsWe measured phthalate metabolites in prenatal urine samples. Mothers completed the Social Responsiveness Scale-2nd edition (SRS-2) to assess child ASD symptoms and the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) to assess general behavior problems. We assessed associations of the sum of di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate metabolites, monobutyl phthalate, mono-isobutyl phthalate, and monoethyl phthalate (mEP) with ASD symptoms, adjusting for other behavior problems, using linear regression models (n=77).
resultsMost associations were null, and the sample size limited power to detect associations, particularly in the stratified analyses. After adjusting for internalizing and externalizing problems from the CBCL, ASD symptoms increased for each doubling of prenatal mEP concentration among boys only.
conclusionsFurther investigation of maternal prenatal urinary phthalate metabolite concentrations and ASD symptoms while adjusting for other behavioral problems is warranted.
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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.