TY - JOUR
T1 - Cadmium exposure and neuropsychological development in school children in southwestern Spain
AU - Rodríguez-Barranco, Miguel
AU - Lacasaña, Marina
AU - Gil, Fernando
AU - Lorca, Andres
AU - Alguacil, Juan
AU - Rohlman, Diane S.
AU - González-Alzaga, Beatriz
AU - Molina-Villalba, Isabel
AU - Mendoza, Ramón
AU - Aguilar-Garduño, Clemente
N1 - Funding Information:
We would like to thank the Andalusian Health Department (Spain) for its financial support to this project (Project no.: PI0755/2010 ). This work is part of the Doctoral Thesis of Miguel Rodríguez Barranco from the University of Granada (Spain), in the context of the Doctoral Program in Clinical Medicine and Public Health. The authors would also like to thank the schools staff and the children and families, without whom this study would not have been possible.
PY - 2014/10
Y1 - 2014/10
N2 - This study assessed the association between cadmium exposure and neuropsychological development in children from a region with high industrial and mining activities in southwestern Spain. We conducted a cross-sectional study with 261 children aged 6-9 years between January and March 2012. Cadmium exposure was measured in urine and hair of children, and neuropsychological development was assessed with the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Fourth Edition (WISC-IV) and with three computerized tests from the Behavioral Assessment and Research System (BARS): Reaction Time Test (RTT), Continuous Performance Test (CPT) and Selective Attention Test (SAT). Multivariate linear regression models, adjusted for potential confounders, were used to estimate the association between neuropsychological development and cadmium exposure measured in urine and hair samples. Geometric means of urine and hair cadmium levels were 0.75. μg/g creatinine and 0.01. μg/g, respectively. We observed that doubling of levels of cadmium in urine was associated with a reduction of two points (95% CI: -3.8 to -0.4) in the Full-Scale intelligence quotient (IQ) in boys. By domains, association was statistically significant for Verbal Comprehension ( β=-2.0; p=0.04) and close to the significance level for Perceptual Reasoning ( β=-1.8; p=0.06). Among girls, only Verbal Comprehension showed suggestive associations with cadmium exposure ( β=-1.7; p=0.06). Cadmium exposure is associated with cognitive delays in boys in our region. Our results provide additional evidence of the neurotoxic effect of low-level postnatal cadmium exposure among children, and support the hypothesis of differences between sexes in the neurotoxic effect of metals on children.
AB - This study assessed the association between cadmium exposure and neuropsychological development in children from a region with high industrial and mining activities in southwestern Spain. We conducted a cross-sectional study with 261 children aged 6-9 years between January and March 2012. Cadmium exposure was measured in urine and hair of children, and neuropsychological development was assessed with the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Fourth Edition (WISC-IV) and with three computerized tests from the Behavioral Assessment and Research System (BARS): Reaction Time Test (RTT), Continuous Performance Test (CPT) and Selective Attention Test (SAT). Multivariate linear regression models, adjusted for potential confounders, were used to estimate the association between neuropsychological development and cadmium exposure measured in urine and hair samples. Geometric means of urine and hair cadmium levels were 0.75. μg/g creatinine and 0.01. μg/g, respectively. We observed that doubling of levels of cadmium in urine was associated with a reduction of two points (95% CI: -3.8 to -0.4) in the Full-Scale intelligence quotient (IQ) in boys. By domains, association was statistically significant for Verbal Comprehension ( β=-2.0; p=0.04) and close to the significance level for Perceptual Reasoning ( β=-1.8; p=0.06). Among girls, only Verbal Comprehension showed suggestive associations with cadmium exposure ( β=-1.7; p=0.06). Cadmium exposure is associated with cognitive delays in boys in our region. Our results provide additional evidence of the neurotoxic effect of low-level postnatal cadmium exposure among children, and support the hypothesis of differences between sexes in the neurotoxic effect of metals on children.
KW - Biomonitoring
KW - Cadmium
KW - Child
KW - Gender
KW - Intelligence
KW - Neuropsychological development
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U2 - 10.1016/j.envres.2014.06.026
DO - 10.1016/j.envres.2014.06.026
M3 - Article
C2 - 25046814
AN - SCOPUS:84904464670
SN - 0013-9351
VL - 134
SP - 66
EP - 73
JO - Environmental Research
JF - Environmental Research
ER -