SynthesisFrontiers in endocrinology2023
Early-life exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals and autistic traits in childhood and adolescence: a systematic review of epidemiological studies.
Synthesis in Frontiers in endocrinology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 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
13 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 26 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
- Deciphering the neurotoxic effects of emerging pollutants: Bisphenols and phthalates as disruptors of brain function and mental health.iScience · 2026Review
- Polychlorinated Biphenyls, Oxidative Stress, and Brain Health: Mechanistic Links to Neurodegenerative and Neurodevelopmental Diseases.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Bibliometric and visual analysis of global research on endocrine-disrupting chemicals and children's health: evidence, emerging concerns, and research gaps.Global health action · 2025Article
- Prenatal exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals and the association with behavioural difficulties in 7-year-old children in the SELMA study.Journal of exposure science & environmental epidemiology · 2025Article
- Identifying the known and unknown health hazard information for chemical disasters: a phased scoping review of the East Palestine, Ohio train derailment.Journal of exposure science & environmental epidemiology · 2025Article
- Tetramethyl Bisphenol F: Organ- and System-Specific Toxicity, Current Status, and Perspectives.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Sex-specific effects of prenatal bisphenol A exposure on transcriptome-interactome profiles of autism candidate genes in neural stem cells from offspring hippocampus.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Effects of endocrine disruptors on the neurological system.Turkish journal of medical sciences · 2025Review
- Review
- 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
- The Autism Spectrum Disorder and Its Possible Origins in Pregnancy.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024Review
- Endocrine Society of India's National White Paper on Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals - A Call for Action.Indian journal of endocrinology and metabolismArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Aims: Exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) during critical neurodevelopmental windows has been associated with the risk of autistic traits. This systematic review of epidemiological studies examined the association between maternal exposure to EDCs during pregnancy and the risk of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the offspring. Methods: We searched PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar from inception to November 17, 2022, for studies investigating the association between prenatal exposure to EDCs and outcomes related to ASD. Two independent reviewers screened studies for eligibility, extracted data, and assessed the risk of bias. The review was registered in PROSPERO (CRD42023389386). Results: We included 27 observational studies assessing prenatal exposure to phthalates (8 studies), polychlorinated biphenyls (8 studies), organophosphate pesticides (8 studies), phenols (7 studies), perfluoroalkyl substances (6 studies), organochlorine pesticides (5 studies), brominated flame retardants (3 studies), dioxins (1 study), and parabens (1 study). The number of examined children ranged from 77 to 1,556, the age at the assessment of autistic traits ranged from 3 to 14 years, and most studies assessed autistic traits using the Social Responsiveness Scale. All but one study was considered to have a low risk of bias. Overall, there was no association between maternal exposure to specific ECDs during pregnancy and the occurrence of autistic traits in offspring. Conclusions: Findings from the epidemiological studies evaluated here do not support an association between prenatal exposure to ECDs and the likelihood of autistic traits in later in life. These findings should not be interpreted as definitive evidence of the absence of neurodevelopment effects of EDCs affecting ASD risk, given the limitations of current studies such as representative exposure assessment, small sample sizes, inadequacy to assess sexually dimorphic effects, or the effects of EDC mixtures. Future studies should carefully address these limitations.
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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.