Project Details
Early Career
Status: Funded - Closed
Early exposure to environmental contaminants, home stimulation, and child cognitive development trajectories
Ines Gonzalez-Casanova, Ph.D.
Summary
BACKGROUND: Children of underserved households are less likely to achieve their full developmental potential. SES is associated with both the risk of exposure to environmental contaminants (ECs) and the quality of the home learning environment, which have been shown to impair cognitive development. GAP: The role of prenatal exposure to environmental contaminants and home stimulation during childhood on cognitive development are not completely understood, particularly within the context of the strong association between SES and development. HYPOTHESIS: Prenatal exposure to environmental contaminants and home social environment during early childhood are in the pathway of the association between SES and child development METHODS: This is a longitudinal study of the effect of household socioeconomic status, environmental contaminants, and home environment stimulation on child development across time. The study includes 718 mother-child pairs participating in a trial being conducted in Cuernavaca, Mexico, with available information on household socioeconomic status, environmental contaminants or home stimulation, and at least one measure of cognitive development during childhood. RESULTS: Mothers of children who followed the low cognitive development trajectory were more likely to be from households with lower SES score, have lower Ravens scores, and fewer years of schooling when compared to those in the average or positive trajectories. Similarly, children who followed the low trajectory were more likely to belong to households with lower HOME learning environment scores at 12 months, and were less likely to attend a private school at 7 years when compared to those following the average or positive trajectories. After adjustment for sociodemographic covariates, prenatal exposure to ECs measured as an index or individually was associated with worse cognitive development trajectories through 7 years. IMPACT: This research can be translated into recommendations to promote home environments that contribute to an optimal childhood development, especially among those most at risk.
Publications:
Casanova, Ines Gonzalez, Aryeh D. Stein, Ann DiGirolamo, Albino Barraza-Villarreal, Juan Rivera, Isabelle Romieu, Raquel Feregrino, and Usha Ramakrishnan. "Prenatal exposure to environmental contaminants and cognitive development through 7 y in Mexico." The FASEB Journal 30, no. 1_supplement (2016): 1149-24.