Concurrent Assessment of Phthalates/HEXAMOLL® DINCH Exposure and Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children Performance in Three European Cohorts of the HBM4EU Aligned Studies

Information about the effects of phthalates and non-phthalate substitute cyclohexane-1,2-dicarboxylic acid diisononyl ester (HEXAMOLL (R) DINCH) on children's neurodevelopment is limited. The aim of the present research is to evaluate the association between phthalate /HEXAMOLL (R) DINCH exposure and child neurodevelopment in three European cohorts involved in HBM4EU Aligned Studies. Participating subjects were school-aged children belonging to the Northern Adriatic cohort II (NAC-II), Italy, Odense Child Cohort (OCC), Denmark, and PCB cohort, Slovakia. In each cohort, children's neurodevelopment was assessed through the Full-Scale Intelligence Quotient score (FSIQ) of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale of Children test using three different editions. The children's urine samples, collected for one point in time concurrently with the neurodevelopmental evaluation, were analyzed for several phthalates/HEXAMOLL (R) DINCH biomarkers. The relation between phthalates/HEXAMOLL (R) DINCH and FSIQ was explored by applying separate multiple linear regressions in each cohort. The means and standard deviations of FSIQ were 109 +/- 11 (NAC-II), 98 +/- 12 (OCC), and 81 +/- 15 (PCB cohort). In NAC-II, direct associations between FSIQ and DEHP's biomarkers were found: 50H-MEHP+5oxo-MEHP ((3 = 2.56; 95% CI 0.58-4.55; N = 270), 50H-MEHP+5cx-MEPP (beta = 2.48; 95% CI 0.47-4.49; N = 270) and 5OH-MEHP (beta = 2.58; 95% CI 0.65-4.51; N = 270). On the contrary, in the OCC the relation between DEHP's biomarkers and FSIQ tended to be inverse but imprecise (p-value >= 0.10). No associations were found in the PCB cohort. FSIQ was not associated with HEXAMOLL (R) DINCH in any cohort. In conclusion, these results do not provide evidence of an association between concurrent phthalate/DINCHHEXAMOLLR DINCH exposure and IQ in children.European Commission 733032 European Union through its Sixth Framework Program for RTD FOOD-CT-2006-016253Institute for Maternal and Child Health IRCCS "Burlo Garofolo", Trieste, Italy (Ministry of Health-Italy) RC 12/12CROME LIFE Project "Cross-Mediterranean Environment and Health Network" LIFE12 ENV/GR/001040Odense University Hospital, DenmarkUniversity of Southern Denmark Mental Health Service of the Region of Southern Denmark Odense Patient data Exploratory Network (OPEN), Denmark Danish Center for Hormone Disrupting Chemicals MST-611-00012Det Frie Forskningsrad (DFF) 4004-00352B_FSSNovo Nordisk Foundation NNF19OC0058266 NNF17OC0029404Sygeforsikring Danmark 2021-0173Odense University HospitalHelsefonden BeckettfondenDanish Mental Health FundHealth Insurance DenmarkVelux FondenSlovak Research and Development Agency APVV-0571-12Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic 2014/47-SZU-11Region of Southern Denmark, The Municipality of Odense, DenmarkRigshospitale