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Few studies have considered household interventions for reducing endocrine disrupting chemical (EDC) exposures. We conducted a secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial, originally designed to reduce lead exposure, to evaluate if the intervention lowered EDC exposures in young children. Study participants were children from the Cincinnati, Ohio area (n = 250, HOME Study). Prenatally, families received a housing intervention that included paint stabilization and dust mitigation, or as a control, injury prevention measures. At 24-months, we measured organophosphate esters (OPEs) and phthalates or their metabolites in dust and urine. We measured perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in dust and serum at 24- and 36-months, respectively. We assessed associations between dust and biomarker EDCs using Spearman correlations, characterized EDC mixtures via principal components analysis, and investigated treatment effects using linear regression. To mitigate selection bias, we fit statistical models using inverse probability of retention weights. Correlations between dust EDCs and analogous biomarkers were weak-to-moderate (ρ’s ≤ 0.3). The intervention was associated with 23 % (95 % CI: −38, −3) lower urinary DEHP metabolites and, in a per-protocol analysis, 34 % lower (95 % CI: −55, −2) urinary MBZP. Additionally, among Black or African American children, the intervention was associated with lower serum concentrations of several PFAS (e.g., −42 %; 95 % CI: −63, −8 for PFNA). Household interventions that include paint stabilization and dust mitigation may reduce childhood exposures to some phthalates and PFAS in Blacks/African Americans. These findings highlight the need for larger studies with tailored and sustained housing interventions.

Objectives: The landscape of availability, policies, and norms around e-cigarette use and cessation has changed rapidly in the last few years. There is also high interest in quitting vaping among teens and young adults. Understanding the motivation of those who want to quit vaping is important for effective intervention development. This analysis compares user-submitted reasons for quitting (RFQ) vaping from 2022 to a previous analysis from 2019 to determine whether motivations have shifted among young people. Methods: We reviewed 2000 RFQ submissions from users who enrolled in a vaping cessation text message program in 2022. Each response was coded by ≥ 2 researchers and categorized into one of 16 themes. Findings were compared to the 2019 analysis using item-wise comparisons. Results: The most frequent RFQ in 2022 were health (56.1%), social influence (15.8%), and other (11.7%). In comparison to 2019, health remained the top reason, but the rank order of all other reasons shifted. Theme prevalence changed significantly, with cost decreasing and health increasing. Among health-related sub-categories, current and mental health increased compared to 2019 submissions. Discussion: RFQ among young people shifted between 2019 and 2022. We observed greater concern about current and mental health, possibly from experiencing negative health impacts from vaping or from increased awareness of these impacts. The lower prevalence of cost may reflect the widespread availability of cheaper e-cigarettes. RFQ likely change rapidly with the fluctuating e-cigarette landscape and should be considered in cessation interventions, promotional campaigns, and policy.

The understanding of the impact of prenatal exposure to metal mixtures on birth weight is limited. We aimed to identify metal mixture components associated with birth weight and to determine additional pairwise interactions between metals showing such associations. Concentrations of 18 metals were measured using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry in urine samples collected in the 3rd trimester from a prenatal cohort (discovery; n = 1849) and the Healthy Baby Cohort (replication; n = 7255) in Wuhan, China. In the discovery set, we used two penalized regression models, i.e., elastic net regression for main effects and a lasso for hierarchical interactions, to identify important mixture components associated with birth weight, which were then replicated. We observed that 8 of the 18 measured metals were retained by elastic net regression, with five metals (vanadium, manganese, iron, cesium, and barium) showing negative associations with Z-scores for birth weight and three metals (cobalt, zinc, and strontium) showing positive associations. In replication set, associations remained significant for vanadium (β = −0.035; 95% confidence interval [CI], −0.059 to −0.010), cobalt (β = 0.073; 95% CI, 0.049 to 0.097), and zinc (β = 0.040; 95% CI, 0.016 to 0.065) after Bonferroni correction. We additionally identified and replicated a single pairwise interaction between iron and copper exposure on birth weight (P

Background: Triclosan exposure may decrease circulating thyroxine levels or cause neuron apoptosis, which in turn may adversely affect neurodevelopment. However, few studies have examined the association of early life triclosan exposure with child behavior. Objective: To quantify the association between early-life triclosan exposure and child behavior at age 8-years in 202 mother-child pairs from the HOME study (Cincinnati, OH; enrolled: 2003–2006). Methods: We quantified urinary triclosan concentrations up to 3 times in mothers (16-weeks, 26-weeks, and delivery) and up to 6 times in children (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 8 years). Parents rated children's problem behaviors at age 8-years using the Behavioral Assessment System for Children-2 (BASC-2). Adjusting for covariates and accounting for exposure measurement error, we estimated changes in behavior problem scores per 10-fold increase in mean gestational and childhood triclosan concentrations. In addition, we estimated sex-specific associations. Results: Child sex modified the association of gestational and childhood triclosan with several BASC-2 scales (sex × triclosan p-values

Background: Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) may adversely influence cardiometabolic risk. However, few studies have examined if the timing of early life PFAS exposure modifies their relation to cardiometabolic risk. We examined the influence of gestational and childhood PFAS exposure on adolescents’ cardiometabolic risk. Methods: We quantified concentrations of four PFAS (perfluorooctanoate [PFOA], perfluorooctane sulfonate [PFOS], perfluorononanoate [PFNA], and perfluorohexane sulfonate [PFHxS]) in sera collected during pregnancy, at birth, and at ages 3, 8, and 12 years from 221 mother–child pairs in the HOME Study (enrolled 2003–06, Cincinnati, Ohio). We measured cardiometabolic risk factors using physical examinations, fasting serum biomarkers, and dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry scans at age 12 years. Cardiometabolic risk summary scores were calculated by summing age- and sex-standardized z-scores for individual cardiometabolic risk factors. We used multiple informant models to estimate covariate-adjusted associations of serum PFAS concentrations (log2-transformed) at each visit with cardiometabolic risk scores and their individual components, and tested for differences in associations across visits. Results: The associations of serum PFOA concentrations with cardiometabolic risk scores differed across visits (P for heterogeneity = 0.03). Gestational and cord serum PFOA concentrations were positively associated with cardiometabolic risk scores (βs and 95% confidence intervals [95% CIs]: gestational 0.8 [0.0, 1.6]; cord 0.9 [-0.1, 1.9] per interquartile range increase). These positive associations were primarily driven by homeostatic model assessment for insulin resistance index (β = 0.3 [0.1, 0.5]) and adiponectin to leptin ratio (β = -0.5 [-1.0, 0.0]). Other individual cardiometabolic risk factors associated with gestational PFOA included insulin and waist circumference. Gestational and cord PFHxS were also associated with higher cardiometabolic risk scores (βs: gestational 0.9 [0.2, 1.6]; cord 0.9 [0.1, 1.7]). Conclusion: In this cohort of children with higher gestational PFOA exposure, fetal exposure to PFOA and PFHxS was associated with unfavorable cardiometabolic risk in adolescence.

Background: Early-life phthalate exposures may adversely influence neurodevelopment by disrupting thyroid hormone homeostasis, altering brain lipid metabolism, or reducing gonadal hormone concentrations. Previous literature examining gestational phthalate exposure and child behavior were inconclusive and few prospective studies have examined childhood phthalate exposure, particularly phthalate mixtures. We investigated whether gestational and childhood phthalate exposures were associated with child behavior. Methods: We used data from 314 mother–child pairs in the HOME Study, a longitudinal pregnancy and birth cohort that enrolled pregnant women from Cincinnati, Ohio. We quantified urinary concentrations of 11 phthalate metabolites in samples collected twice during gestation from women and six times from their children when they were ages 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 8 years. We assessed children’s behavior at ages 2, 3, 4, 5, and 8 years using the Behavioral Assessment System for Children-2. Using linear mixed models, we estimated covariate-adjusted associations of measurement-error-corrected gestational and childhood phthalate metabolite concentrations (per interquartile range increase) with repeated child behavior assessments. We used Weighted Quantile Sum (WQS) regression to estimate the association of phthalate mixtures with child behavior. Results: Gestational mono(3-carboxypropyl) phthalate (MCPP) concentrations were associated with more problem behaviors (internalizing: β = 0.9, 95% confidence interval [CI] = -0.1, 1.9; externalizing: β = 1.0, 95%CI = -0.1, 2.0; behavioral symptoms index [BSI]: β = 1.1, 95%CI = 0.1, 2.1). Higher childhood monobenzyl phthalate (MBzP) (β = 1.4; 95%CI = 0.0, 2.7), monocarboxynonyl phthalate (MCNP) (β = 3.2; 95%CI = 1.6, 4.8), monocarboxyoctyl phthalate (MCOP) (β = 0.9; 95%CI = 0.0, 1.7), MCPP (β = 1.8; 95%CI = 0.2, 3.5), and monoethyl phthalate (MEP) (β = 1.6; 95%CI = 0.1, 3.1) concentrations were associated with higher BSI composite scores. Consistent with this, the weighted childhood phthalate index was associated with more problem behaviors (internalizing: β = 1.5, 95%CI = −0.2, 3.1; externalizing: β = 1.7, 95%CI = 0.1, 3.5; BSI: β = 1.7, 95%CI = 0.2, 3.2); MBzP, MCNP, and MEP largely contributed to these associations. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that childhood exposure to phthalate mixtures may be associated with children’s problem behaviors.

There is an urgent need to create effective interventions that help parents establish a healthy diet among their children early in life, especially among low-income and ethnically and racially diverse families. U.S. children eat too few fruits, vegetables and whole grains, and too many energy dense foods, dietary behaviors associated with increased morbidity from chronic diseases. Parents play a key role in shaping children's diets. Best practices suggest that parents should involve children in food preparation, and offer, encourage and model eating a variety of healthy foods. In addition, while parents help to shape food preferences, not all children respond in the same way. Certain child appetitive traits, such as satiety responsiveness (sensitivity to internal satiety signals), food responsiveness (sensitivity to external food cues), and food fussiness may help explain some of these differences. Prior interventions to improve the diet of preschool children have not used a holistic approach that targets the home food environment, by focusing on food quality, food preparation, and positive feeding practices while also acknowledging a child's appetitive traits. This manuscript describes the rationale and design for a 6-month pilot randomized controlled trial, Strong Families Start at Home, that randomizes parents and their 2-to 5-year old children to either a home-based environmental dietary intervention or an attention-control group. The primary aim of the study is to explore the feasibility and acceptability of the intervention and evaluation and to determine the intervention's preliminary efficacy on child diet quality, feeding practices, and availability of healthy foods in the home.