Environment/Climate Change
In Utero Exposure to Organophosphate Esters and Anxiety and Depressive Symptoms in Early Adolescence Michaela Olabisi* Michaela Olabisi Olabisi Olabisi Olabisi Olabisi Olabisi Olabisi Olabisi Olabisi Olabisi Olabisi Olabisi Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, United States
Anxiety and depression often emerge during adolescence, a period of vulnerability to mood disorders. In utero exposure to organophosphate esters (OPEs), widely used flame retardants and plasticizers, may alter behavior. However, their role in adolescent mental health is unclear.
Using data from 249 mother–child pairs in the Health Outcomes and Measures of the Environment Study (2003–2006), associations between in utero OPEs and anxiety and depressive symptoms at age 12 years were examined. Maternal urinary concentrations of four OPE metabolites, including bis(2-chloroethyl) phosphate (BCEP), bis(1,3-dichloro-2-propyl) phosphate (BDCIPP), di-n-butyl phosphate (DNBP), and diphenyl phosphate (DPHP), were measured at 16 and 26 weeks’ gestation and delivery, standardized for specific gravity, and log2 transformed. Anxiety and depressive symptoms were assessed at 12 years with the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders and the Children’s Depression Inventory-II, and associations with repeated OPEs across gestation were estimated using multiple informant models with covariate adjustment. As secondary analyses, generalized linear models evaluated individual exposure windows, and modified Poisson models evaluated dichotomized outcomes.
Higher prenatal OPE concentrations were associated with increased anxiety, but not depressive symptoms. Each doubling in BCEP was associated with higher separation anxiety (β = 0.5, 95% CI: 0.05–0.98) and total anxiety (β = 0.19, 95% CI: 0.06–0.3). In addition, BDCIPP and DNBP were associated with increased separation anxiety and DPHP with higher panic/somatic and total anxiety. In secondary analyses, associations were stronger in females, with higher OPEs associated with a modest increase in risk of having clinically significant anxiety (RRs = 1.03–1.08).
These results suggest that in utero OPE exposure in this cohort was a risk factor for anxiety, particularly separation anxiety and panic/somatic symptoms, in early adolescence.
