Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39528036›Full record

ArticleEnvironmental research2025

Associations between prenatal exposure to environmental phenols and child neurodevelopment at two years of age in a South African birth cohort.

Terry Zhou, Sarina Abrishamcar, Grace Christensen, Stephanie M Eick, Dana Boyd Barr, Aneesa Vanker, Nadia Hoffman, Kirsten A Donald, Catherine J Wedderburn, Syam S Andra and 4 more

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PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Environmental research, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. An Exploration of Machine Learning Methods in Human Biomonitoring.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2026
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  2. Article
  3. Article
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

14 authors.

Terry ZhouDepartment of Epidemiology, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
Sarina AbrishamcarDepartment of Epidemiology, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
Grace ChristensenDepartment of Epidemiology, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
Stephanie M EickDepartment of Epidemiology, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA; Gangarosa Department of Environmental Health, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
Dana Boyd BarrDepartment of Epidemiology, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
Aneesa VankerDepartment of Paediatrics and Child Health, Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.
Nadia HoffmanNeuroscience Institute, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa; Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.
Kirsten A DonaldDepartment of Paediatrics and Child Health, Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa; Neuroscience Institute, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.
Catherine J WedderburnDepartment of Paediatrics and Child Health, Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa; Neuroscience Institute, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa; Department of Clinical Research, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
Syam S AndraDepartment of Environmental Medicine and Climate Science, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA.
Robert O WrightDepartment of Environmental Medicine and Climate Science, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA.
Heather J ZarDepartment of Paediatrics and Child Health, Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa; South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) Unit on Risk and Resilience in Mental Disorders, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.
Dan J SteinNeuroscience Institute, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa; Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa; South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) Unit on Risk and Resilience in Mental Disorders, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.
Anke HülsDepartment of Epidemiology, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA; Gangarosa Department of Environmental Health, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA; Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA. Electronic address: anke.huels@emory.edu.

Funding

Untargeted Analysis ResourceU2CES026561 · NIEHS · ICAHN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT MOUNT SINAI · PI WRIGHT, ROBERT O · 2015 to 2025
$24.5M
Pilot Project ProgramP30ES019776 · NIEHS · EMORY UNIVERSITY · PI William Michael Caudle · 2013 to 2026
$22.6M
The Mount Sinai Transdisciplinary Center on Early Environmental ExposuresP30ES023515 · NIEHS · ICAHN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT MOUNT SINAI · PI Chris Gennings · 2014 to 2026
$21.3M
Graduate and Postdoctoral Training in ToxicologyT32ES012870 · NIEHS · EMORY UNIVERSITY · PI Carmen Joseph Marsit · 2004 to 2026
$9.1M
Air pollution and early signs of dementiaR01AG079170 · NIA · EMORY UNIVERSITY · PI Anke Huels, Thomas Spurgeon Wingo · 2022 to 2026
$3.6M
NIA NIH HHS R01 AG079170NIEHS NIH HHS P30 ES019776NIEHS NIH HHS P30 ES023515NIEHS NIH HHS T32 ES012870NIEHS NIH HHS U2C ES026561Wellcome Trust
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveEvidence suggests that prenatal environmental phenol exposures negatively impact child neurodevelopment, however there is little research on the effects of mixtures of multiple phenol exposures. We analyzed associations between prenatal exposure to phenol mixtures and cognitive neurodevelopment at two years of age among 545 mother-child pairs from the South African Drakenstein Child Health Study. MATERIAL AND

methodsWe measured maternal urine environmental phenol concentrations once during the second trimester of pregnancy. We used the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development III to assess cognitive development at two years of age. We used linear regression models adjusted for maternal HIV status, maternal age, ethnicity, prenatal tobacco exposure, child sex, and socioeconomic status (SES) to examine individual associations. We compared four mixture methods: self-organizing maps (SOM), Bayesian kernel machine regression (BKMR), quantile-based G-computation (qgcomp) and weighted quantile sum (WQS) regression to explore joint effects of the exposure mixture. We assessed effect modification by SES, sex, prenatal tobacco exposure, and ethnicity.

resultsAcross all methods, we found no association between individual phenol exposures or the joint exposure mixture with the cognitive score. Prenatal tobacco exposure modified the association between pentachlorophenol (PCP) and cognitive neurodevelopment (interaction p-value = 0.012), with higher PCP concentrations associated with lower cognitive scores among non-smokers (beta = - 2.17; 95% CI: -3.83, -0.51). Sex modified the association between bisphenol A (BPA) and cognitive neurodevelopment (interaction p-value = 0.021), with males having a significant adverse association (beta = -1.39; 95% CI: -2.54, -0.23). SES modified the association between bisphenol S (BPS) and cognitive neurodevelopment (interaction p-value = 0.003), with individuals of moderate-high SES having a significant adverse association (beta = -1.84; 95% CI: -3.26, 0.06)

conclusionWhile we found no main effects of prenatal phenol exposure on cognitive neurodevelopment, the associations with PCP, BPA, and BPS were more pronounced among certain subgroups.

Indexed as

Environmental PollutantsPhenolsPrenatal Exposure Delayed EffectsAdultBirth CohortChild DevelopmentChild, PreschoolCognitionCohort StudiesFemaleHumansMaleMaternal ExposurePregnancySouth AfricaYoung AdultEnvironmental PollutantsPhenols

Identifiers

PMID39528036
PMCPMC11631636

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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.