Bernardo, B.A.; Lanphear, B.P.; Venners, S.A.; Arbuckle, T.E.; Braun, J.M.; Muckle, G.; Fraser, W.D.; McCandless, L.C. Assessing the Relation between Plasma PCB Concentrations and Elevated Autistic Behaviours using Bayesian Predictive Odds Ratios. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health2019, 16, 457.
Bernardo, B.A.; Lanphear, B.P.; Venners, S.A.; Arbuckle, T.E.; Braun, J.M.; Muckle, G.; Fraser, W.D.; McCandless, L.C. Assessing the Relation between Plasma PCB Concentrations and Elevated Autistic Behaviours using Bayesian Predictive Odds Ratios. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019, 16, 457.
Bernardo, B.A.; Lanphear, B.P.; Venners, S.A.; Arbuckle, T.E.; Braun, J.M.; Muckle, G.; Fraser, W.D.; McCandless, L.C. Assessing the Relation between Plasma PCB Concentrations and Elevated Autistic Behaviours using Bayesian Predictive Odds Ratios. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health2019, 16, 457.
Bernardo, B.A.; Lanphear, B.P.; Venners, S.A.; Arbuckle, T.E.; Braun, J.M.; Muckle, G.; Fraser, W.D.; McCandless, L.C. Assessing the Relation between Plasma PCB Concentrations and Elevated Autistic Behaviours using Bayesian Predictive Odds Ratios. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019, 16, 457.
Abstract
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by impaired social communication and repetitive or stereotypic behaviours. In utero exposure to environmental chemicals, such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), may play a role in the etiology of ASD. We examined the relation between plasma PCB concentrations measured during pregnancy and autistic behaviours in a subset of children aged 3–4 years old in the Maternal-Infant Research on Environmental Chemicals (MIREC) Study, a pregnancy and birth cohort of 546 mother-infant pairs from Canada (enrolled: 2008-2011). We quantified the concentrations of 6 PCB congeners that were detected in >40% of plasma samples collected during the 1st trimester. At age 3–4 years, caregivers completed the Social Responsiveness Scale-2 (SRS), a valid and reliable measure of children’s reciprocal social and repetitive behaviors and restricted interests. We examined SRS scores as both a continuous and binary outcome, and we calculated Bayesian predictive odds ratios for more autistic behaviours based on a latent variable model for SRS scores >60. We found no association between plasma PCB concentrations and autistic behavior, However, we found small and imprecise increases in the mean SRS score and odds of more autistic behaviour for the highest quartile of plasma PCB concentrations compared with the lowest quartile; for instance, an average increase of 1.1 [95%PCI: −0.5, 2.6] in the mean SRS (exposure contrast 4th versus 1st quartile) for PCB138 translated to an odds ratio of 1.6 [95%PCI: 1.0, 2.5]. Our findings illustrate the importance of measuring associations between PCBs and autistic behaviour on both continuous and binary scales.
Biology and Life Sciences, Neuroscience and Neurology
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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
