Association between maternal urinary neonicotinoid concentrations and child development in the Japan Environment and Children’s Study

Abstract

BackgroundRecent studies have reported the effect of neonicotinoid (NEO) exposures on development in human. However, information about the risk of childhood development delays due to NEO exposures is limited. ObjectivesThe study aimed to examine the association between NEO exposure and child development up to 4 years of age using data of the Japan Environment and Children’s Study. MethodsThe study employed urinary NEO and metabolite concentrations in the first and second or third trimesters; the Japanese translation of the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (third edition; J-ASQ-3) scores on developmental delay in five domains, namely communication, gross motor skills, fine motor skills, problem solving, and personal-social characteristics from 6 months to 4 years of age; and self-reported questionnaire data. The associations between urinary NEO concentrations and J-ASQ-3 results were analysed using the treed distributed lag mixture model. A total of 8538 participants were included in statistical analyses. ResultsThe determination rates of urinary acetamiprid-N-desmethyl (dm-ACE), clothianidin (CLO), dinotefuran (DIN) and thiamethoxam (THX) were greater than 50%. Median urinary dm-ACE, CLO, DIN and THX concentrations were 0.34, 0.14, 0.22 and 0.05 ng/ml, respectively, in samples collected during gestational weeks < 23, and 0.28, 0.12, 0.18 and 0.04 ng/ml, respectively, in those collected during gestational weeks ≥ 23. The binomial scores divided by the cut-off values of the J-ASQ were used in the treed distributed lag mixture model. The highest percentage for a domain with a value less than the cut-off value was ‘problem solving’ at 6 months of age among all the J-ASQ-3 scores (10.5%). There was no statistically significant association between maternal urinary dm-ACE, CLO, DIN and THX concentrations during pregnancy and the J-ASQ-3 results up to 4 years of age. Objective assessment of child development in different populations may be warranted to confirm our findings.