Gestational organophosphate esters (OPEs) and executive function in adolescence: The HOME Study

Affiliations

¹ Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Nevada Las Vegas, School of Public Health, Las Vegas, NV, USA. Electronic address: ann.vuong@unlv.edu.
² Department of Environmental and Public Health Sciences, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH, USA.
³ Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Nevada Las Vegas, School of Public Health, Las Vegas, NV, USA.
⁴ National Center for Environmental Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA.
⁵ Department of Environmental and Public Health Sciences, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH, USA; Department of Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH, USA; Department of Radiology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH, USA.
⁶ Child and Family Research Institute, BC Children's Hospital, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada.
⁷ Department of Epidemiology, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA.
⁸ Department of Environmental and Public Health Sciences, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH, USA; Department of Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH, USA.
⁹ Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.

PMID: 39461697
PMCID: PMC11609008 (available on 2025-12-15)
DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2024.120239

Gestational organophosphate esters (OPEs) and executive function in adolescence: The HOME Study

Ann M Vuong et al. Environ Res. 2024.

. 2024 Dec 15;263(Pt 3):120239.

doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2024.120239. Epub 2024 Oct 24.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Nevada Las Vegas, School of Public Health, Las Vegas, NV, USA. Electronic address: ann.vuong@unlv.edu.
² Department of Environmental and Public Health Sciences, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH, USA.
³ Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Nevada Las Vegas, School of Public Health, Las Vegas, NV, USA.
⁴ National Center for Environmental Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA.
⁵ Department of Environmental and Public Health Sciences, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH, USA; Department of Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH, USA; Department of Radiology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH, USA.
⁶ Child and Family Research Institute, BC Children's Hospital, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada.
⁷ Department of Epidemiology, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA.
⁸ Department of Environmental and Public Health Sciences, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH, USA; Department of Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH, USA.
⁹ Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.

PMID: 39461697
PMCID: PMC11609008 (available on 2025-12-15)
DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2024.120239

Abstract

Background: Evidence from toxicological studies indicate organophosphate esters (OPEs) are neurotoxic, but few epidemiological studies investigated associations between gestational OPEs and executive function.

Objective: To examine the associations between gestational concentrations of OPE urinary metabolites and executive function at 12 years.

Methods: We used data from 223 mother-adolescent dyads from the Health Outcomes of Measures of the Environment (HOME) Study. Women provided spot urine samples at 16 weeks gestation, 26 weeks gestation, and at delivery for quantification of bis(1,3-dichloro-2-propyl) phosphate, bis-2-chloroethyl phosphate (BCEP), diphenyl phosphate (DPHP), and di-n-butyl phosphate (DNBP). Executive function was assessed at age 12 years using the parent- and self-report Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF2). Covariate-adjusted associations between specific gravity-corrected OPEs and BRIEF2 scores were estimated using multiple informant models. Bayesian Kernel Machine Regression (BKMR) was used to assess the impact of all OPEs simultaneously.

Results: Parent- and self-report BRIEF2 indices and composite scores were weakly to moderately correlated (r_s = 0.32-0.41). A natural-log unit increase in BCEP at 26 weeks was associated with approximately a 1-point increase on the self-report Cognitive Regulation Index [CRI] (95% CI 0.4, 2.3), the Emotion Regulation Index [ERI] (95% CI 0.3, 2.2), and the Global Executive Composite [GEC] (95% CI 0.4, 2.2), indicating poorer performance. Higher DPHP at 16 weeks was associated with lower parent-report GEC score (β = -1.1, 95% CI -2.3, -0.003). BKMR identified BCEP and DNBP at 26 weeks as important contributors to CRI and ERI, respectively.

Conclusion: OPE metabolites during gestational development, particularly BCEP, may influence adolescent executive function. However, since the FDR p-values failed to reach statistical significance, additional studies would benefit from using larger cohorts.

Keywords: Chemical mixtures; Executive function; Flame retardants; Neurodevelopment; Organophosphate esters; Pregnancy.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Ann M Vuong reports financial support was provided by National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. Bruce Lanphear reports financial support was provided by National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. Aimin Chen reports financial support was provided by National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. Kimberly Yolton reports financial support was provided by National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. Joseph Bruan reports financial support was provided by National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. Kim Cecil reports financial support was provided by National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. Aimin Chen reports financial support was provided by Environmental Protection Agency. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

References

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Gestational organophosphate esters (OPEs) and executive function in adolescence: The HOME Study

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Gestational organophosphate esters (OPEs) and executive function in adolescence: The HOME Study

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