Grantee Research Project Results

2000 Progress Report: Prenatal PCB Exposure and Neurodevelopmental Outcomes in Adolescence and Adulthood

EPA Grant Number: R827039C004
Subproject: this is subproject number 004 , established and managed by the Center Director under grant R827039
(EPA does not fund or establish subprojects; EPA awards and manages the overall grant for this center).
Center: Center for Research on Early Childhood Exposure and Development in Puerto Rico
Center Director: Alshawabkeh, Akram
Title: Prenatal PCB Exposure and Neurodevelopmental Outcomes in Adolescence and Adulthood
Investigators: Susser, Ezra
Current Investigators: Susser, Ezra , Wolff, Mary S. , Matte, Thomas
Institution: Mount Sinai School of Medicine
EPA Project Officer: Callan, Richard
Project Period: August 1, 1998 through July 31, 2003 (Extended to July 31, 2004)
Project Period Covered by this Report: August 1, 1999 through July 31, 2000
RFA: Centers for Children's Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research (1998) RFA Text |  Recipients Lists
Research Category: Children's Health , Human Health

Objective:

The original two specific aims of this project have not changed and correspond to the two phases of the project. Briefly, restated, the aim of the phase 1 project (planned for years 1 and 2), is to evaluate the relation of prenatal polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) exposure, to be measured in stored maternal sera, to neurodevelopmental outcomes in adolescence based on neuropsychologic, neurologic, behavioral, and psychiatric assessments performed during a previous study. Subjects are a sub-cohort of 162 African-Americans from the Collaborative Perinatal Project (CPP) cohort enrolled at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center (CPMC). The aim of the phase 2 project is to evaluate the relation of prenatal PCB exposure to neurodevelopmental outcomes at age 39 and over the life course through that age in the same sub-cohort studied in phase 1. Outcomes will be measured by tracing and recruiting subjects to undergo an examination battery designed based on findings from the phase 1 study.

Progress Summary:

Activities planned in the original timeline for year 1 of the phase 1 project timeline were to recruit and hire a Data Analyst; analyze prenatal serum samples for PCBs and amino levulinic acid (ALA); and merge, clean, and verify the archival prenatal and adolescent data as well as the newly-generated prenatal serum PCB data. Progress to date in these areas was as follows:

The data analyst position was filled in January of 1999 by Mary Perrin, M.P.H., a doctoral candidate in the Environmental Sciences Division, Joseph Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University. At that time, work began to merge, clean, and verify the archival prenatal and adolescent data. An unanticipated problem was encountered when it was learned that some of the adolescent files were stored on tape formats that can only be read by hardware that is no longer manufactured. A private firm, AA Data Conversions, was identified to convert legacy files to PC-readable files on CD-ROM. The adolescent data were then merged with archival prenatal data. Hard copies of participant files were then located in long-term storage and selected variables in the electronic data sets were verified against paper records for a sample of participants. The merged adolescent and prenatal data were then analyzed to examine distributions of study variables and to identify participants in the adolescent study for whom prena tal sera should be requested. Of the 162 participants, 154 had both a valid IQ measure in adolescence and an available third trimester maternal serum sample, according to archival prenatal data. This compares favorably with an N of 142 with prenatal sera that we estimated in our proposal, based upon the overall proportion of CPP-CPMC participants with prenatal sera. Sera were requested from the National Institutes of Health (NIH)-CPP repository in late April of this year and were identified for all 154 participants.

Although serum specimens were received from the NIH laboratory in late May, assays have not yet been completed due to an unanticipated backlog at the Mount Sinai laboratory. We have used the time presented by this delay to conduct bivariate analyses (an example is provided in Table 1) of key covariates and outcomes in the data so that data analyses, originally planned for year 2, can proceed more quickly when serum assays are completed.

Table 1. Selected Study Variables by Sex and Presence of Ne urologic Soft Signs at Age 7

Significance

Data to be analyzed upon the completion of the PCB assays this fall will represent the first examination of the relation of prenatal PCB exposure to neurodevelopment beyond childhood and in an urban, African American population.

Future Activities:

As proposed in the original project timeline, we will conduct analyses to assess the relationship of prenatal PCB exposure to neurodevelopmental outcomes measured at age 16-18 years. These will begin in the fall upon completion of serum assays and should be completed by spring of 2000. At that time manuscripts based on the phase 1 study will be completed and design of the phase 2 test battery will begin.

While we plan no significant modifications related to human subjects, we have developed, at the recommendation of the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a preliminary plan for notifying participants of study results. This change poses no additional risks to subjects. IRB approval of this addendum is pending.

Journal Articles:

No journal articles submitted with this report: View all 4 publications for this subproject

Supplemental Keywords:

Health, RFA, Scientific Discipline, Toxics, Susceptibility/Sensitive Population/Genetic Susceptibility, Health Risk Assessment, pesticides, Risk Assessments, genetic susceptability, Environmental Chemistry, Epidemiology, Children's Health, Biochemistry, dietary exposure, health effects, Human Health Risk Assessment, environmental hazard exposures, health risks, sensitive populations, harmful environmental agents, growth and development, neurodevelopmental toxicity, biological response, growth & development, pesticide exposure, human exposure, neurotoxicity, pesticide residues, children, exposure, environmental health hazard, assessment of exposure, PCBs, neurological development, developmental disorders, exposure assessment, exposure pathways

Relevant Websites:

http://www.childenvironment.org/ Exit

Progress and Final Reports:

Original Abstract

1999

2001

2002 Progress Report

2003

Final

Main Center Abstract and Reports:

R827039    Center for Research on Early Childhood Exposure and Development in Puerto Rico

Subprojects under this Center: (EPA does not fund or establish subprojects; EPA awards and manages the overall grant for this center).
R827039C001 Growing Up Healthy in East Harlem
R827039C002 Exposure to Indoor Pesticides and PCBs and their Effects on Growth and Neurodevelopment in Urban Children
R827039C003 Genetics of Chlorpyrifos Risk in Minority Populations
R827039C004 Prenatal PCB Exposure and Neurodevelopmental Outcomes in Adolescence and Adulthood
R827039C005 Neuroendocrine Mechanisms of Environmental Toxicants: PCBs and Pesticides