Prenatal exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances and cognitive development in infancy and toddlerhood.

Background/objective: Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have neurobehavioral toxicity in experimental studies. Evidence on associations between prenatal PFAS exposure and child's cognitive development is inconsistent partly due to differences in assessment time points and tools. We examined associations of prenatal maternal serum PFAS concentrations with child's cognitive development assessed at multiple time points in infancy and toddlerhood.

Prenatal exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in association with autism spectrum disorder in the MARBLES study.

Background: Prenatal exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) has shown potential to adversely affect child brain development, but epidemiologic evidence remains inconsistent. We examined whether prenatal exposure to PFAS was associated with increased risk of autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Methods: Participants were 173 mother-child pairs from MARBLES (Markers of Autism Risk in Babies - Learning Early Signs), a high-risk ASD cohort.

A Prospective Study of Environmental Exposures and Early Biomarkers in Autism Spectrum Disorder: Design, Protocols, and Preliminary Data from the MARBLES Study.

Background: Until recently, environmental factors in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) were largely ignored. Over the last decade, altered risks from lifestyle, medical, chemical, and other factors have emerged through various study designs: whole population cohorts linked to diagnostic and/or exposure-related databases, large case-control studies, and smaller cohorts of children at elevated risk for ASD.

Objectives: This study aimed to introduce the MARBLES (Markers of Autism Risk in Babies-Learning Early Signs) prospective study and its goals, motivate the enhanced-risk cohort design, describe protocols and main exposures of interest, and present initial descriptive results for the study population.