Association between maternal exposure to phthalates and lower language ability in offspring derived from hair metabolome analysis

Jones, Beatrix, Han, Ting Li, Delplancke, Thibaut, McKenzie, Elizabeth J., De Seymour, Jamie V., Chua, Mei Chien, Tan, Kok Hian and Baker, Philip N. (2018) Association between maternal exposure to phthalates and lower language ability in offspring derived from hair metabolome analysis. Scientific Reports, 8 (1). pp. 1-8. ISSN 2045-2322

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Abstract

The fetus undergoes a crucial period of neurodevelopment in utero. The maternal hair metabolome provides an integrated record of the metabolic state of the mother prior to, and during pregnancy. We investigated whether variation in the maternal hair metabolome was associated with neurodevelopmental differences across infants. Maternal hair samples and infant neurocognitive assessments (using the Bayley III Scales of Infant Development at 24 months) were obtained for 373 infant-mother dyads between 26-28 weeks' gestation from the Growing Up in Singapore Towards Healthy Outcomes cohort. The hair metabolome was analysed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Intensity measurements were obtained for 276 compounds. After controlling for maternal education, ethnicity, and infant sex, associations between metabolites and expressive language skills were detected, but not for receptive language, cognitive or motor skills. The results confirm previous research associating higher levels of phthalates with lower language ability. In addition, scores were positively associated with a cluster of compounds, including adipic acid and medium-chain fatty acids. The data support associations between the maternal hair metabolome and neurodevelopmental processes of the fetus. The association between phthalates and lower language ability highlights a modifiable risk factor that warrants further investigation.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Supplementary information accompanies this paper at https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-24936-5. The authors thank Silas Villas Boas, for insightful discussions. We gratefully acknowledge Dr. Anne Rifkin-Graboi and her lab at A*STAR for providing the neurocognitive assessment data and very helpful comments on an early draft of the manuscript, and Dr. Shaun Kok Yew Goh of National University of Singapore, Department of Biomedical Engineering, who provided the assessment of English language exposure.
Uncontrolled Keywords:	general ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/1000
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Norwich Medical School
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Centres > Metabolic Health
Related URLs:	http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?...
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	22 Jan 2026 16:30
Last Modified:	22 Jan 2026 16:30
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/101682
DOI:	10.1038/s41598-018-24936-5

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