A new study in the International Hygiene and Environmental Health Journal The search for exposure to parents’ work chemicals can be linked to a range of behavioral challenges and development delays in their autistic children.
Autism is a neurodevelopmental condition which is marked by challenges with social skills, communication struggles and repetitive behavior. Autism features can vary considerably in their sweetness or strong.
“Previous research has explored the impact of environmental factors on the probability that a child develops autism,” said Irva Hertz-Picciotto, co-author and professor in the Department of Public Health Sciences and at the UC Davis Mind Institute.
“This study is one of the first to link exhibitions to parental jobs to the severity of their child’s autism according to the autism diagnostic observation calendar, 2nd edition” (teens-2), “said Hertz-Picciotto. The Calibé-2 calibrated gravity score is considered to be the diagnostic assessment of the or “teen-2”, said hetz-picciotto.
Hertz-Picciotto directs the UC Davis Environmental Health Sciences Center and has led a major study of autism, a charge (risk of infantile autism of genes and the environment), since 2002. The study of charges has been funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. It includes autistic children or other development delays and children with typical development.
Link parents’ chemical exposures to the characteristics of autism
In collaboration with the study team study team of the UC Davis, researchers from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (Niosh) studied data of more than 500 families in the charge study. They have been completely focused on children already diagnosed with autism.
Industrial hygienists have evaluated the professional history of mothers and fathers of three months before pregnancy at birth. They estimated the exposure of each parent to 16 chemicals or agents. This included plastics, car fluids, disinfectants, medicines and other chemicals.
They then corresponded to the data with the gravity scores of children’s autism (using teens-2) and their behaviors, their cognitive skills and their daily life skills.
The researchers found these associations between autistic children:
- Plastics and polymers (Like polyethylene, polypropylene and polyvinyl chloride or PVC) are linked to less good cognitive performance, reduced adaptive skills and increased behavioral problems such as hyperactivity and social withdrawal.
- Ethylene oxideA chemical used for sterilization, is linked to higher autism gravity scores and lower daily life skills.
- Phenol Exposure is linked to increased gravity of autism and behavioral symptoms such as hyperactivity, movements or repeated vocalizations.
“Our results suggest that parental exposure to certain chemicals in the workplace during the main periods of fetal development can influence not only the probability of autism, but also gravity and functional results for autistic children,” said main author Erin McCanlies, formerly with the Niosh health effects laboratory division.
The authors noted important limits under study. The number of families may have been too small to find links for less common exhibitions. The exposure estimates were based on the reported professional history and the expert judgment, which may not reflect real exhibitions. Finally, while some agents have shown associations with certain autism features, the study has not proven that these chemicals caused the lines.
Lessons learned and research needs
The authors say that more research is necessary to understand how these exhibitions have an impact on brain development. They also call to include fathers in similar studies on reproductive health and neurode development of children, as many associations in this study were linked to paternal exhibitions.
For example, the most powerful cognitive deficits for autistic children were linked to exposure to fathers and polymers’ jobs. These exhibitions were correlated with significantly lower skills, in particular the fine engine, visual reception, receptive language and expressive language.
“This research shows that the safety of the workplace is not only to protect the worker-it is also a question of protecting their future children,” said Hertz-Picciotto. “We must consider how chemicals at the workplace could affect the next generation. »»