Publications by authors named "Drew B Day"
Background: PAH exposure is associated with adverse health outcomes, but exposure sources in pregnancy are not well-understood.
Objectives: We examined associations between urinary OH-PAHs during pregnancy and environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) and short-term ambient air pollution exposure. Participants included 1603 pregnant non-smokers in three cohorts from 7 sites across the USA.
Context: Phthalates are ubiquitous endocrine-disrupting chemicals and suspected obesogens. However, the associations with fat distribution and associated cardiometabolic complications remain unclear.
Objective: We examined the associations between phthalate exposure, body fat (total and distribution patterns), and metabolic syndrome (MetS) among US adolescents and adults.
Article Synopsis
- Background research highlights that prenatal exposure to ambient fine particulate matter (PM) may negatively affect child lung health, yet studies specifically investigating the timing of exposure during critical lung development phases are limited.
- The study involved 675 children, tracking prenatal PM exposure and assessing lung function at ages 8-9 through spirometry while controlling for various factors like maternal and child characteristics.
- Results showed weak associations between PM exposure during specific fetal development phases and lung function measures (FEV1 and FVC), with no significant effect from factors like child sex or allergic sensitization.
Background: Although human biomonitoring of environmental chemicals has been considered a gold standard, these methods can be costly, burdensome, and prone to unwanted sources of variability that may cause confounding. Silicone wristbands have recently emerged as innovative passive samplers for measuring personal exposures.
Methods: In a pilot study from 2019 to 2021 involving 55 children aged 5-9 years in Seattle and Yakima, Washington, we utilized silicone wristbands to explore associations of sociodemographic variables and COVID-19-related restrictions, including school closures, with exposures to numerous chemicals including brominated and organophosphate ester (OPE) flame retardants, polychlorinated biphenyls, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), phthalates, and pesticides.
Article Synopsis
- Executive functions, crucial for problem-solving and planning, develop rapidly in childhood, but prenatal exposure to environmental toxicants like polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) may hinder this development.
- The study analyzed 814 children from non-smoking mothers, measuring urine levels of PAH metabolites during pregnancy and evaluating their executive functions at age 8-9, focusing on cognitive flexibility, working memory, and inhibitory control.
- Results showed mostly null associations between PAH exposure and executive functions, although some interactions between specific PAH metabolites and working memory were observed, highlighting the need for further research in this area.
Exposure to ozone (O) has been associated with cardiovascular outcomes in humans, yet the underlying mechanisms of the adverse effect remain poorly understood. We aimed to investigate the association between O exposure and glycerophospholipid metabolism in healthy young adults. We quantified plasma concentrations of phosphatidylcholines (PCs) and lysophosphatidylcholines (lysoPCs) using a UPLC-MS/MS system.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMelamine caused acute nephrotoxicity in a past food adulteration incident, but it is unclear whether and how widespread ambient exposure to melamine and related compounds might affect pediatric kidney health. We assessed cross-sectional associations between childhood exposure to melamine and its derivatives and biomarkers of kidney injury and health and explored potential heterogeneity by sex suggested by sex-dependent differences in renal physiology. We measured melamine and its derivatives ammeline, ammelide, and cyanuric acid (CYA) in spot urine samples collected from 192 children from an urban site (Seattle, WA) and 187 children from a rural site (Yakima, WA) aged 4-8 years in the Global Alliance to Prevent Prematurity and Stillbirth (GAPPS) Study.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- This study examined the effects of prenatal exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) on asthma and wheezing in children aged 8-9, using data from a diverse sample of 1,081 parent-child pairs across five U.S. cities.! -
- Researchers measured levels of PAH metabolites in mothers during mid-pregnancy and assessed asthma and wheezing symptoms in children, adjusting for various factors like smoke exposure and demographics.! -
- The findings revealed limited evidence linking prenatal PAH exposure to asthma or wheezing trajectories, with some associations noted for specific compounds in boys and girls, but no strong overall connections were established.
Article Synopsis
- A study aimed to identify clusters of chronic obesity-related, neurodevelopmental, and respiratory issues in children, examining how these clusters relate to chemical exposure.
- Researchers analyzed data from 1092 children collected between 2011 and 2022 across three pregnancy cohorts and identified three distinct health outcome clusters based on k-means clustering.
- A significant association was found between exposure to certain phthalates and membership in a cluster with high rates of asthma and other respiratory problems, suggesting shared underlying causes for these health outcomes.
Article Synopsis
- Prenatal exposure to chemicals like phthalates and psychosocial stressors may affect the developing brain, but their combined effects are not well studied.
- Researchers analyzed data from three pregnancy cohorts, measuring phthalates in urine and mothers' reported stressful life events during pregnancy, to see how these factors impacted children's problem behaviors at ages 4-6.
- The study found some weak links between phthalate exposure and behavior issues, with unexpected results showing that higher stress levels during pregnancy might lessen the impact of certain phthalates on child behaviors, especially in boys, indicating a need for further investigation.
Background: Consuming ultra-processed foods may increase exposure to phthalates, a group of endocrine disruptors prevalent in food contact materials.
Objectives: Investigate associations between ultra-processed food intake and urinary phthalates during pregnancy, and evaluate whether ultra-processed foods mediate socioeconomic disparities in phthalate exposures.
Methods: In a socioeconomically diverse sample of 1031 pregnant women from the Conditions Affecting Neurocognitive Development and Learning in Early Childhood (CANDLE) Study in the urban South, the Block Food Frequency Questionnaire was administered and urinary phthalate metabolites were measured in the second trimester.
Article Synopsis
- Ozone exposure has been linked to interruptions in normal lung development during childhood, but previous studies show mixed results and limited research on vulnerable groups.
- This study analyzed children from the CANDLE pregnancy cohort in Tennessee, assessing their lung function at ages 8-9 while considering their residential ozone exposure from birth to age 8.
- The results indicated that even at low ozone levels, there were no significant negative effects on lung function, nor did factors like child sex or previous health conditions impact these findings.
Background And Aim: Studies suggest prenatal exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) may influence wheezing or asthma in preschool-aged children. However, the impact of prenatal PAH exposure on asthma and wheeze in middle childhood remain unclear. We investigated these associations in diverse participants from the ECHO PATHWAYS multi-cohort consortium.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Atopic disease may be influenced by prenatal and early life exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals, including bisphenols, but results from epidemiological studies have been mixed. This study aimed to extend the epidemiological literature, hypothesizing that children with higher prenatal bisphenol exposure are more likely to have childhood atopic disease.
Methods: Urinary bisphenol A (BPA) and S (BPS) concentrations were measured in each trimester from 501 pregnant women in a multi-center, prospective pregnancy cohort.
Background: Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are ubiquitous pollutants originating from petrogenic and pyrogenic sources. PAH compounds can cross the placenta, and prenatal PAH exposure is linked to adverse infant and childhood health outcomes.
Objective: In this first human transcriptomic assessment of PAHs in the placenta, we examined associations between prenatal PAH exposure and placental gene expression to gain insight into mechanisms by which PAHs may disrupt placental function.
Article Synopsis
- The study aimed to investigate the relationship between prenatal exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and childhood behavior in a diverse group of children aged 4-6 years.
- It pooled data from 1118 mother-child pairs across six U.S. cities, measuring PAH levels in prenatal urine and assessing children's behavior using the Child Behavior Checklist.
- Results indicated that higher levels of one specific PAH metabolite, 2-hydroxynaphthalene, were linked to fewer behavioral problems, especially in boys and in children breastfed for six months or more, although overall findings did not support significant effects of PAH mixtures or other metabolites.
Article Synopsis
- Prenatal exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) was studied for its potential link to pediatric asthma in a diverse US population of 1,296 mother-child pairs.
- Researchers found limited individual associations between specific PAH metabolites and asthma outcomes, but noted that female children showed increased asthma risk linked to certain PAHs, while no such risk was found for males.
- The study suggests that while the link between PAHs and asthma is complex, child sex may play a significant role, though maternal asthma and vitamin D status did not consistently influence outcomes.
Background: Optimization of mixture analyses is critical to assess potential impacts of human exposures to multiple pollutants. Single-index regression methods quantify total mixture association and chemical component contributions. Single-index methods include several variants of quantile g-computation (QGC) and weighted quantile sum regression (WQSr), though each has limitations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Spontaneous preterm birth accounts for most preterm births and leads to significant morbidity in the newborn and childhood period. This subtype of preterm birth represents an increasing proportion of all preterm births when compared with medically indicated preterm birth, yet it is understudied in omics analyses. The placenta is a key regulator of fetal and newborn health, and the placental transcriptome can provide insight into pathologic changes that lead to spontaneous preterm birth.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAssociations of Dietary Intake with Urinary Melamine and Derivative Concentrations among Children in the GAPPS Cohort.
Int J Environ Res Public Health
April 2022
Melamine is a nephrotoxic industrial chemical. Diet is one source of melamine exposure, yet little work has examined the main dietary contributors, particularly among children. We evaluated associations of diet with urinary melamine and derivative concentrations among 123 children aged 4-6 years in the Global Alliance to Prevent Prematurity and Stillbirth cohort.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are ubiquitous chemicals with mechanisms of toxicity that include endocrine disruption. We examined associations of prenatal urinary PAH with spontaneous preterm birth (PTB) and gestational age (GA) at birth. We also assessed whether infant sex modifies the association of PAH exposure with spontaneous PTB and GA at birth.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Animal and epidemiological studies suggest that prenatal exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) may negatively impact toddler neurodevelopment.
Methods: We investigated this association in 835 mother-child pairs from CANDLE, a diverse pregnancy cohort in the mid-South region of the U.S.