Publications by authors named "Zeyan Liew"
Background: Cerebral palsy (CP) is the most common permanent neuromotor disorder diagnosed in childhood. Although most cases have unknown etiology, emerging evidence suggests environmental risk factors of CP.
Objectives: We investigated whether ambient toxic air contaminants (TACs) in the maternal residential area during pregnancy, specifically volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and metals, were associated with offspring CP risk in California.
Article Synopsis
- Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) face a significantly higher risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes, including preterm births and low birth weight infants.
- A study conducted in Denmark from 2008-2018 analyzed 503,491 singleton pregnancies, with 2,206 involving mothers with RA and JIA, looking at fetal growth and risks such as being small for gestational age.
- Findings indicated that while RA and JIA did not reduce estimated fetal weight, corticosteroid and sulfasalazine use during pregnancy were linked to poorer fetal growth and higher risks of small for gestational age infants.
Meta-analysis is a powerful analytic method for summarizing effect estimates across studies. However, conventional meta-analysis often assumes a linear exposure-outcome relationship and does not account for variability over the exposure ranges. In this work, we first used simulation techniques to illustrate that the linear-based meta-analytical approach may result in oversimplistic effect estimation based on three plausible non-linear exposure-outcome curves (S-shape, inverted U-shape, and M-shape).
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- A systematic review was conducted to summarize quantitative bias analysis (QBA) methods for observational studies, focusing on their characteristics and range based on peer-reviewed articles.
- Out of over 10,000 records, 53 articles detailed 57 QBA methods, with a majority (93%) aimed at observational studies and relevant biases such as unmeasured confounding and misclassification.
- This review provides a valuable resource for future researchers to identify appropriate QBA methods to adjust for biases in summary-level epidemiologic data.
Younger siblings (SIBS) of children with autism exhibit a wide range of clinical and subclinical symptoms including social, cognitive, language, and adaptive functioning delays. Identifying factors linked with this phenotypic heterogeneity is essential for improving understanding of the underlying biology of the heterogenous outcomes and for early identification of the most vulnerable SIBS. Prevalence of neurodevelopmental (NDD) and neuropsychiatric disorders (NPD) is significantly elevated in families of children with autism.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFParacetamol is suggested to have endocrine disrupting properties possibly affecting fetal programming of reproductive health that might lead to impaired semen quality and changes in reproductive hormones. In this longitudinal study, we included 1058 young adult men born 1998-2000 into the Danish National Birth Cohort with follow-up at 18-21 years of age. The exposure, maternal intake of paracetamol, was modelled in three ways: dichotomized, trimester-specific, and as duration of exposure categorized into: short (1-2 weeks), medium (3-9 weeks) or long duration (>9 weeks) vs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFImportance: Lower educational attainment is associated with increased risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes, but it is unclear which pathways mediate this association.
Objective: To investigate the association between educational attainment and pregnancy outcomes and the proportion of this association that is mediated through modifiable cardiometabolic risk factors.
Design, Setting, And Participants: In this 2-sample mendelian randomization (MR) cohort study, uncorrelated (R2 < 0.
A scoping review of multigenerational impacts of grandparental exposures on mental health in grandchildren.
Curr Environ Health Rep
December 2023
Purpose Of Review: The multigenerational effects of grandparental exposures on their grandchildren's mental health and neurodevelopment are gaining research attention. We conducted a scoping review to summarize the current epidemiological studies investigating pregnancy-related and environmental factors that affected grandparental pregnancies and mental health outcomes in their grandchildren. We also identified methodological challenges that affect these multigenerational health studies and discuss opportunities for future research.
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- The study examines the links between maternal infections and antibiotic prescriptions during pregnancy with the risk of childhood cancer in Taiwan, using a sample of over 2 million mother-child pairs.
- It finds that maternal infections are associated with a moderate increase in the risk of childhood hepatoblastoma and a mild increase for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).
- Furthermore, antibiotic use during pregnancy, especially tetracyclines, is linked to a higher risk of ALL and may also raise risks for other cancers like hepatoblastoma and medulloblastoma, indicating a need for more research into these associations.
Importance: Cerebral palsy (CP) is the most prevalent neuromotor disability in childhood, but for most cases the etiology remains unexplained. Seasonal variation in the conception of CP may provide clues for their potential etiological risk factors that vary across seasons.
Objective: To evaluate whether the month or season of conception is associated with CP occurrence.
Background: Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are synthetic chemicals that induce oxidative inflammatory responses and disrupt the endocrine and central nervous systems, all of which can influence sleep.
Objective: To investigate the association between PFAS exposure and sleep health measures in U.S.
Background: Most cerebral palsy (CP) cases have an unexplained etiology, but a role for environmental exposures has been suggested. One purported environmental risk factor is exposure to endocrine-disrupting pollutants specifically per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).
Objectives: We investigated the association between prenatal PFAS exposures and CP in Swedish children.
Hyperthyroidism in Danish Pregnant Women During a 20-Year Period.
J Clin Endocrinol Metab
December 2023
Context: Hyperthyroidism in pregnancy is a clinical concern, and surveillance of any change in the occurrence of hyperthyroidism in pregnancy is important, especially when a mandatory iodine fortification (IF) program is implemented such as in Denmark in the year 2000.
Objective: To investigate any change in the occurrence of hyperthyroidism and the use of antithyroid drugs (ATDs) in Danish pregnant women during a 20-year period before and after the implementation of IF.
Methods: A nationwide register-based cohort (1997-2016) and 2 birth cohorts with biochemical data (the Danish National Birth Cohort, 1997-2003, and the North Denmark Region Pregnancy Cohort, 2011-2015) were used to study maternal use of ATDs in pregnancy and frequency of early pregnancy biochemical hyperthyroidism during a 20-year period prior to and after the implementation of mandatory IF.
Introduction: Most women with rheumatic diseases discontinue antirheumatic therapies in anticipation of, or during pregnancy due to concerns around medication safety and fetal wellbeing.
Objective: We performed a scoping review of available evidence investigating the risks of adverse offspring neurodevelopmental outcomes amongst parents with chronic inflammatory arthritis, taking antirheumatic therapies during conception or pregnancy.
Methods: We designed a scoping review protocol and search strategy a priori in accordance with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines.
Background: Chemicals used or emitted by unconventional oil and gas development (UOGD) include reproductive/developmental toxicants. Associations between UOGD and certain birth defects were reported in a few studies, with none conducted in Ohio, which experienced a thirty-fold increase in natural gas production between 2010 and 2020.
Methods: We conducted a registry-based cohort study of 965,236 live births in Ohio from 2010 to 2017.
Importance: Lithium is a naturally occurring and trace element that has mood-stabilizing effects. Maternal therapeutic use of lithium has been associated with adverse birth outcomes. In animal models, lithium modulates Wnt/β-catenin signaling that is important for neurodevelopment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To investigate the associations between maternal or paternal age at the time of delivery and offspring's risk for cerebral palsy (CP) in California.
Study Design: We conducted a population-based, case-control study that included 8736 singleton CP cases and 90 250 singleton controls, matched by sex and birth year, selected from California birth certificate records from 1994 to 2010. We estimated OR and 95% CIs for CP diagnosis according to maternal and paternal age recorded on the birth certificates.
The age at attaining infancy developmental milestones has been associated with later neurodevelopmental outcomes, but evidence from large and diverse samples is lacking. We investigated this by analyzing data of 5360 singleton children aged 9-10 from 17 states in the US enrolled in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study during 2016-2020. Delays in four milestones (first roll over, unaided sitting, unaided walking, and speaking first words) were defined using the 90th percentile of age at attainment reported by children's biological mothers.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Although associations of physical activity and smoking with mortality have been well-established, the joint impact of physical activity and smoking on premature mortality among elderly hypertensive population was still unclear. This study aimed to assess association of physical activity, smoking, and their interaction with all-cause and cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality risk in elderly hypertensive patients.
Methods: We included 125,978 Chinese hypertensive patients aged 60-85 years [mean (SD) age, 70.
Purpose: Previous studies have suggested a link between cardiovascular disease (CVD) and the subsequent development of lung cancer. However, empirical evidence on the association of CVDs, particularly type-specific CVDs, with lung cancer incidence and survival remains limited.
Methods: The cohort study included 306,285 patients with CVD and 1,222,140 individuals without CVD.