ArticleEnvironment international2021
Early-life environmental exposure determinants of child behavior in Europe: A longitudinal, population-based study.
Article in Environment international, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 64 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
64 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Sleep as a potential link between exposome, mental health and cognitive development in children and adolescents - a scoping review.Archives of public health = Archives belges de sante publique · 2026Pooled it
- Noise, air pollution exposure and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a meta-analysis.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- Determinants and relationships of climate change, climate change hazards, mental health, and well-being: a systematic review.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- Exploring the link between toxic metal exposure and ADHD: a systematic review of pb and hg.Journal of neurodevelopmental disorders · 2024Pooled it
- The lasting influence of parenting intervention on child behavior: findings from a randomized clinical trial using care for child development guidelines.BMC pediatrics · 2024Trial
- Update of the human early life exposome (HELIX) cohort: a European population-based exposome cohort-cohort profile.BMJ open · 2026Article
- Early-life factors associated with developmental trajectories of internalizing and externalizing symptoms from early childhood through adolescence: Rhea mother-child cohort in Crete, Greece.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2026Article
- Global trends in research on environmental chemical exposure and childhood learning disabilities: insights from a two-decade bibliometric and Latent Dirichlet Allocation analysis.Tropical medicine and health · 2026Article
- Reforming schools into health promoting schools: perspective based on expert consensus from a European multistakeholder consultation.European journal of pediatrics · 2026Article
- Ultra-processed food consumption across early life: implications for pediatric health and disease risk.Frontiers in nutrition · 2026Review
- Article
- The authors' replies to comments on "prenatal exposure to green space and mental health in early adolescence: findings from the TRAILS study".American journal of epidemiology · 2025Article
- Association of pre-and postnatal mercury exposure with cardiometabolic risk factors in children: the role of the telomere length and telomerase reverse transcriptase polymorphisms.Environment international · 2025Article
- Neurodevelopmental Pathways from Maternal Obesity to Offspring Outcomes: An Umbrella Review of Cognitive and Behavioral Consequences Across Development.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Impact of plastic-related chemicals on emotional and behavioral health in children from Poland.Environmental health : a global access science source · 2025Article
- Article
- Effects of exposure to insecticides on sleep and neurobehavioural functioning in puberty and adolescence: a scoping review.Arhiv za higijenu rada i toksikologiju · 2025Article
- Article
- Maternal dietary patterns and offspring behavioral problems.Pediatric research · 2025Article
- Associations between air pollution and surrounding greenness with internalizing and externalizing behaviors among schoolchildren.Child and adolescent mental health · 2025Article
4 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
31 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundEnvironmental exposures in early life influence the development of behavioral outcomes in children, but research has not considered multiple exposures. We therefore aimed to investigate the impact of a broad spectrum of pre- and postnatal environmental exposures on child behavior. METHODS AND
findingsWe used data from the HELIX (Human Early Life Exposome) project, which was based on six longitudinal population-based birth cohorts in Europe. At 6-11 years, children underwent a follow-up to characterize their exposures and assess behavioral problems. We measured 88 prenatal and 123 childhood environmental factors, including outdoor, indoor, chemical, lifestyle and social exposures. Parent-reported behavioral problems included (1) internalizing, (2) externalizing scores, using the child behavior checklist (CBCL), and (3) the Conner's Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) index, all outcomes being discrete raw counts. We applied LASSO penalized negative binomial regression models to identify which exposures were associated with the outcomes, while adjusting for co-exposures. In the 1287 children (mean age 8.0 years), 7.3% had a neuropsychiatric medical diagnosis according to parent's reports. During pregnancy, smoking and car traffic showing the strongest associations (e.g. smoking with ADHD index, aMR:1.31 [1.09; 1.59]) among the 13 exposures selected by LASSO, for at least one of the outcomes. During childhood, longer sleep duration, healthy diet and higher family social capital were associated with reduced scores whereas higher exposure to lead, copper, indoor air pollution, unhealthy diet were associated with increased scores. Unexpected decreases in behavioral scores were found with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and organophosphate (OP) pesticides.
conclusionsOur systematic exposome approach identified several environmental contaminants and healthy lifestyle habits that may influence behavioral problems in children. Modifying environmental exposures early in life may limit lifetime mental health risk.
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