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Associations between parental and postnatal metal mixture exposure and developmental delays in a Taiwanese longitudinal birth cohort of preschool children

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Abstract

Studies have evaluated the impact of environmental exposure to neurotoxic metals on developmental delays (DDs). However, comprehensive understanding regarding the associations between parental and postnatal exposure to metal mixtures and the occurrence of DDs in offspring is limited. In this study, we assessed the relationships between parental and postnatal exposure to three metals (arsenic [As], cadmium [Cd], and lead [Pb], levels of which were measured in toenails) and suspected DDs (SDDs) in preschool children within a Taiwanese longitudinal birth cohort. In total between 2017 and 2021, 154 pairs of parents and their children under the age of 6 years were recruited, and 462 toenail samples and 154 completed questionnaires were collected. Metal concentrations in toenails were quantified using inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry after acid digestion of the toenails. We applied multivariable logistic regression and Bayesian kernel machine regression to evaluate the overall effect and to identify key components of the metal mixture that were associated with the SDD risk. Higher concentrations of As, Cd, and Pb were found in the toenails of the parents of children with SDDs compared with the toenails of the parents of children without SDDs. Our examination of the combined effects of exposure to the metal mixture revealed that As concentration in the father’s toenail and Cd concentration in the mother’s toenail were positively correlated with the risk of SDDs in their offspring. Notably, the effect of exposure to the metal mixture on the risk of SDDs was stronger in boys than in girls. Our findings suggest that parents taking measures to minimize their exposure to metals might enhance their children’s developmental outcomes.

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Acknowledgements

The authors express their gratitude to the staff at the Department of Pediatrics, MacKay Children’s Hospital, who assisted with data collection, and all participants in this study for their time and effort.

Availability of data and materials

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Funding

This work was supported by grants MOST109-2314-B-038-061-MY3, MOST108-2314-B-038-083-MY3, MOST106-2314-B-038-031-MY3, and MOST105-2314-B-038-031-MY3 from the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Public Health, College of Public Health, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan

    Chi-Sian Kao, Yen-Tzu Fan, Ying-Lin Wang, Yi-Hua Chen, Hsing-Jasmine Chao & Ling-Chu Chien

  2. Graduate Institute of Environmental Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan

    Yen-Tzu Fan & Ying-Lin Wang

  3. Neuroscience Research Center, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan

    Yi-Hua Chen, Hsing-Jasmine Chao, Yu-Chun Lo & Ling-Chu Chien

  4. Program in Medical Neuroscience, College of Medical Science and Technology, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan

    Yu-Chun Lo

  5. Department of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, MacKay Children’s Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan

    Chuen-Bin Jiang

  6. Department of Medicine, MacKay Medical College, New Taipei City, Taiwan

    Chuen-Bin Jiang

  7. Nutrition Research Center, Taipei Medical University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan

    Ling-Chu Chien

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  1. Chi-Sian Kao
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Contributions

CSK—conceptualization, formal analysis, and writing—original draft; YTF—formal analysis and data validation; YLW—formal analysis and methodology; YHC—formal analysis, resources, and funding acquisition; HJC—formal analysis and investigation; YCL—investigation and data validation; CBJ—conceptualization, formal analysis, methodology, writing—reviewing, and editing; LCC—funding acquisition, conceptualization, formal analysis, methodology, writing—reviewing, and editing.

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Correspondence to Ling-Chu Chien.

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Kao, CS., Fan, YT., Wang, YL. et al. Associations between parental and postnatal metal mixture exposure and developmental delays in a Taiwanese longitudinal birth cohort of preschool children. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 117360–117372 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-30435-6

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