ArticleFrontiers in public health2026
Combined prenatal exposure to airborne polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and maternal distress is associated with childhood irritability.
Article in Frontiers in public health, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Background: Childhood irritability is a transdiagnostic risk marker of neurodevelopmental problems. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and psychosocial stressors have been independently associated with altered emotional and behavioral symptoms akin to irritability, but the joint effects of PAHs and maternal psychological distress on trajectories of irritability symptoms have not been directly examined. We hypothesized that combined exposure to prenatal PAHs and maternal psychological distress would be associated with higher and more persistent irritability across childhood. Methods: Prenatal PAH was measured via personal air monitoring, and maternal psychological distress was measured via the Psychiatric Epidemiology Research Instrument-Demoralization, both measured during mothers' third trimester. Children's irritability symptoms were measured via a novel composite of item-level responses from the Children's Behavior Checklist and Conner's Parent Report Scale at ages 7, 9, and 11. Psychometric robustness of the irritability composite scores (N = 511) were evaluated. Latent growth curve modeling (LGM) examined interactive effects of PAH and maternal distress on irritability trajectories (N = 394 with complete exposure and outcome data). Follow-up linear regression analyses tested associations at ages 9 and 11. Results: The irritability composite score was unitary and demonstrated good psychometric properties. Combined exposure to prenatal PAH and maternal distress exposure was associated with higher irritability at ages 7, 9 and 11, but not with change in irritability from age 7-11. Conclusions: The novel irritability composite had a unitary factor structure reflecting a single irritability construct. Combined prenatal exposure to PAHs and maternal psychological distress was associated with higher irritability scores at every developmental timepoint suggesting that chemical exposures may exacerbate the effects of maternal distress on child irritability or vice versa. Exposure to either was not associated with change in irritability over time.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.