title: Pre- and postnatal exposures to pesticides and neurodevelopmental effects in children living in agricultural communities from South-Eastern Spain.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Childrens exposure to neurotoxic compounds poses a major problem to public health because oftheir actively developing brain that makes them highly vulnerable. However, limited information is available on neuropsychological effects in children associated with pre- and postnatal exposures to pesticides.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the association between current and pre- and postnatal exposures to pesticides and their effects on neurodevelopment in children aged 6–11 years living in agricultural communities from South-Eastern Spain.
  
  
  METHODS
  An ambispective study was conducted on 305 children aged 6–11 years randomly selected from public schools of the study area. Current exposure to organophosphate pesticides was assessed measuring children's urinary levels of dialkylphosphates (DAPs). Both prenatal and postnatal residential exposure to pesticides was estimated by developing a geographical information system (GIS) technology-based index that integrated distance-weighted measure of agricultural surface, time-series of crop areas per municipality and year, and land-use maps. Neuropsychological performance was evaluated with the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Fourth Edition (WISC-IV). The association of pre- and postnatal and current pesticide exposure with WISC-IV scale scores was assessed using multivariate linear regression models and generalized estimating equation (GEE) models, respectively.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Greater urinary DAP levels were associated with a poorer performance on intelligence quotient and verbal comprehension domain, with effects being more prominent in boys than in girls. The influence of an increase in 10 ha per year in crop surface around the child's residence during the postnatal period was associated with decreased intelligence quotient, processing speed and verbal comprehension scores. As regards prenatal exposure to pesticides, a poor processing speed performance was observed. These effects were also more prominent in boys than in girls.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results suggest that postnatal exposure to pesticides can negatively affect children's neuropsychological performance. Prenatal exposure was weakly associated to neurodevelopment impairment.
authors.affiliation: Andalusian School of Public Health (EASP), Granada, Spain; Instituto de Investigación Biosanitaria, ibs.GRANADA, Hospitales Universitarios de Granada/Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: Beatriz
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: González-Alzaga
authors.affiliation: Department of Legal Medicine and Toxicology, University of Granada School of Medicine, Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: Antonio F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Hernández
authors.affiliation: Andalusian School of Public Health (EASP), Granada, Spain; Instituto de Investigación Biosanitaria, ibs.GRANADA, Hospitales Universitarios de Granada/Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: Miguel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rodríguez-Barranco
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Almería, Spain.
authors.forename: Inmaculada
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Gómez
authors.affiliation: Center for Public Health Research (CSISP-FISABIO), Valencia, Spain.
authors.forename: Clemente
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Aguilar-Garduño
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Investigación Biosanitaria, ibs.GRANADA, Hospitales Universitarios de Granada/Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain; Department of Genetics, Faculty of Sciences, University of Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: Inmaculada
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: López-Flores
authors.affiliation: University of Almería, Department of Neurosciences and Health Sciences, Almería, Spain; Andalusian Council of Health at Almería Province, Almería, Spain.
authors.forename: Tesifón
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Parrón
authors.affiliation: Andalusian School of Public Health (EASP), Granada, Spain; Instituto de Investigación Biosanitaria, ibs.GRANADA, Hospitales Universitarios de Granada/Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain; CIBER of Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP), Madrid, Spain. Electronic address: marina.lacasana.easp@juntadeandalucia.es.
authors.forename: Marina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lacasaña
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development / Q000187:drug effects*; D005260:Female; D040362:Geographic Information Systems; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018811:Maternal Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects*; D009943:Organophosphorus Compounds / Q000633:toxicity* / Q000652:urine; D010575:Pesticides / Q000633:toxicity* / Q000652:urine; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000652:urine; D011897:Random Allocation; D013030:Spain; D014888:Wechsler Scales
chemical_list: D009943:Organophosphorus Compounds; D010575:Pesticides
keywords: Children; Environmental; Neuropsychological development; Neurotoxicity; Pesticides