Postnatal BPA is associated with increasing executive function difficulties in preschool children.

Abstract

BackgroundEarly bisphenol exposure may have consequences for executive function development, but less is known about potential sex effects. We hypothesized that early bisphenol A (BPA) and bisphenol S (BPS) exposures would be associated with sex-dependent changes in preschool executive function.MethodsA subsample of the Alberta Pregnancy Outcomes and Nutrition (APrON) cohort (n = 312) provided maternal second trimester (prenatal) and 3-months postpartum (postnatal) urine samples, from which BPA and BPS concentrations were quantified. When children were age 2 and 4, mothers completed the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function- Preschool Version (BRIEF-P). Changes in standardized T scores on the BRIEF-P indexes of inhibitory self-control, flexibility, and emergent metacognition were investigated.ResultsAdjusted multivariate regression analyses showed that child sex modified the associations between maternal postnatal BPA and changes in executive function. Higher maternal postnatal BPA concentrations predicted increasing difficulties from age 2 to 4 in the domains of inhibitory self-control and emergent metacognition in female, but not male children. The other bisphenol concentrations were not associated with changes in executive function.ConclusionDue to the ubiquity of BPA exposure among breastfeeding women, these findings justify further investigation on effects of postnatal bisphenol exposure on child cognitive development.