Data_Sheet_1_Effects of prenatal polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and childhood material hardship on reading achievement in school-age children: A preliminary study.docx

BackgroundChildren from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds are at elevated risk for reading problems. They are also likely to live in neighborhoods with high levels of air pollution and to experience material hardship. Despite these risk factors, the links between prenatal chemical exposures, socioeconomic adversities, and reading problems in youth from disadvantaged backgrounds remain understudied. Here we examine associations between prenatal exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), a common air pollutant, and reading skills, and determine if this relationship is exacerbated by material hardship among Black and/or Latinx children who have been followed as part of a longitudinal urban birth cohort.MethodsMothers and their children, who were participants in a prospective birth cohort followed by the Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health, were recruited for the current study. Personal prenatal PAH exposure was measured during the third-trimester of pregnancy using a personal air monitoring backpack. Mothers reported their level of material hardship when their child was age 5 and children completed measures of pseudoword and word reading [Woodcock Johnson III Tests of Achievement (WJ-III) Basic Reading Index] at age 7. We used multiple linear regression to examine the effects of the interaction between prenatal PAH and material hardship on Basic Reading Index, controlling for ethnicity/race, sex, birthweight, presence of a smoker in the home (prenatal), and maternal education (prenatal) (N = 53).ResultsA prenatal PAH × material hardship interaction significantly associated with WJ-III Basic Reading Index scores at age 7 (β = −0.347, t(44) = −2.197, p = 0.033). Exploratory analyses suggested that this effect was driven by untimed pseudoword decoding (WJ-III Word Attack: β = −0.391, t(44) = −2.550, p = 0.014).ConclusionEnvironmental chemical exposures can be particularly toxic during the prenatal period when the fetal brain undergoes rapid development, making it uniquely vulnerable to chemical perturbations. These data highlight the interactive effects of environmental neurotoxicants and unmet basic needs on children’s acquisition of reading skill, specifically phonemic processing. Such findings identify potentially modifiable environmental risk factors implicated in reading problems in children from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.</p

Additional file 1: Table S1. of Short-term exposure to PM2.5 and vanadium and changes in asthma gene DNA methylation and lung function decrements among urban children

Promoter region CpG locations and rationale. Table S2. Primers for PCR and pyrosequencing. Table S3. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) among repeated measures of buccal cell DNA methylation. Table S4. Associations between residential PM2.5 and Day 6 DNA methylation: by asthma and overweight. Table S5. Associations between residential V and Day 6 DNA methylation: by asthma and overweight. Figure S1. Targeted CpG sites in promoter region. Figure S2. Seasonal variations in (a) PM2.5 and (b) vanadium (V). Figure S3. Repeated residential indoor measures of (a) PM2.5 and (b) vanadium (V), 6 months later. Figure S4. Distribution of percent DNA methylation of IL4, IFNγ, NOS2A, and ARG2 at Day 6. Figure S5. Correlation matrix for Day 6-buccal cell DNA methylations of IL4, IFNγ, NOS2A, and averaged ARG2 at Time 1. (DOCX 286 kb