ArticleEnvironmental research2025
Early life phthalate exposure impacts gray matter and white matter volume in infants and young children.
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 3 papers.
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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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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Deciphering the neurotoxic effects of emerging pollutants: Bisphenols and phthalates as disruptors of brain function and mental health.iScience · 2026Review
- From cradle to cortex: An exposome- and equity-centered perspective of neurocognitive aging and dementia risk in the era of climate change.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2026Review
- Early life phthalate and replacement plasticizer exposures and changes in early childhood brain functional connectivity and structural morphology.Environment international · 2026Article
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15 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectivePrenatal phthalate exposure is associated with adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes, yet data on impacts of early life exposure remains limited. We investigated phthalate and replacement plasticizer exposures from 2 weeks to 7 years of age in relation to brain anatomical attributes, using serial structural magnetic resonance imaging (sMRI). MATERIAL AND
methodsChildren were enrolled after birth into the UNC Baby Connectome Project, a longitudinal neuroimaging study (North Carolina, USA; 2017-2020). Urine samples (n = 406) were collected at each visit and analyzed for 17 phthalate and replacement plasticizer metabolites. Among 157 children contributing 369 sMRIs, we calculated metabolite-specific average exposures across each individual's urine samples and used linear mixed models to estimate longitudinal associations of log transformed, specific gravity-adjusted average metabolite concentrations with gray and white matter volume, and cortical volume, thickness, and surface area. We examined sex-specific differences in these associations.
resultsHigher average metabolite concentration was associated with lower gray matter volume (MCPP: (-1.73 cm
conclusionEarly life phthalate/plasticizer exposure may differentially impact various brain region volumes in early childhood, with potential downstream consequences on functional development.
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