Association of both prenatal and early childhood multiple metals exposure with neurodevelopment in infant: A prospective cohort study

Background Impaired neurodevelopment of children has become a growing public concern; however, the associations between metals exposure and neurocognitive function have remained largely unknown. Objectives We systematically evaluated the associations of multiple metals exposure during pregnancy and childhood on the neurodevelopment of children aged 2–3 years. Methods We measured 22 metals in the serum and urine among703 mother-child pairs from the Guangxi Birth Cohort Study. The neurocognitive development of children was assessed by the Gesell Development Diagnosis Scale (GDDS; Chinese version). Multiple linear regression models were used to evaluate the relationship between the metals (selected by elastic net regression) and the outcomes. The Bayesian kernel machine regression (BKMR) was used to evaluate the possible joint effect between the multiple metal mixture and the outcomes. Results Prenatal aluminum (Al) exposure was negatively associated with the fine motor developmental quotient (DQ) (β = −1.545, 95%CI: 2.231, −0.859), adaption DQ (β = −1.182, 95%CI: 1.632, −0.732), language DQ (β = −1.284, 95% CI: 1.758, −0.809), and social DQ (β = −1.729, 95% CI: 2.406, −1.052) in the multi-metal model. Prenatal cadmium (Cd) exposure was negatively associated with gross motor DQ (β = −2.524, 95% CI: 4.060, −0.988), while postpartum Cd exposure was negatively associated with language DQ (β = −1.678, 95% CI: 3.227, −0.129). In stratified analyses, infants of different sexes had different sensitivities to metal exposure, and neurobehavioral development was more significantly affected by metal exposure in the first and second trimester. BKMR analysis revealed a negative joint effect of the Al, Cd, and selenium (Se) on the language DQ score; postpartum Cd exposure played a major role in this relationship. Conclusion Prenatal exposure to Al, Ba, Cd, molybdenum (Mo), lead (Pb), antimony (Sb), and strontium (Sr), and postpartum exposure to cobalt (Co), Cd, stannum (Sn), iron (Fe), nickel (Ni), and Se are associated with neurological development of infants. The first and second trimester might be the most sensitive period when metal exposure affects neurodevelopment.