Childhood exposure to non-persistent endocrine disruptors, glucocorticosteroids, and attentional function: A cross-sectional study based on the parametric g-formula

Evidence suggests that endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) may perturb the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis, which has a major role in brain development. We aimed to evaluate the effects of childhood exposure to organophosphate pesticides, phenols, and phthalate metabolites, on urinary glucocorticosteroids and inattention in childhood.

We used data from the Human Early-Life Exposome (HELIX) cohort (2013–2016) and the parametric g-formula to estimate associations between EDCs, glucocorticosteroids, and hit reaction time standard error (HRT-SE), a measure of inattention, and tested for possible effect modification by sex.

We observed a positive marginal contrast (MC) for exposure increases from the 10th to the 90th percentile for methyl-paraben (MC: 0.042 and 95% confidence interval (CI): (0.013, 0.071)), and the phthalate metabolites oxo-MiNP (MC: 0.023 and 95% CI: (0.003, 0.044)), oh-MiNP (MC: 0.039 and 95% CI: (0.001, 0.076)), and MEHP (MC: 0.036 and 95% CI: (0.008, 0.063)), on HRT-SE, indicating lower attention. Several EDCs were also associated with a positive MC for cortisone, cortisol, and corticosterone production. Increased levels of the glucocorticosteroids were not associated with HRT-SE, although we found a possible effect modification by sex.

Our results suggest that multiple EDCs might interfere with inattention and with the homeostasis of the HPA axis.