Publication
Title
Circulating phthalates during critical illness in children are associated with long-term attention deficit : a study of a development and a validation cohort
Author
Abstract
Environmental phthalate exposure has been associated with attention deficit disorders in children. We hypothesized that in children treated in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU), circulating phthalates leaching from indwelling medical devices contribute to their long-term attention deficit. Circulating plasma concentrations of di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP) metabolites were quantified in 100 healthy children and 449 children who had been treated in PICU and were neurocognitively tested 4 years later. In a development patient cohort (N = 228), a multivariable bootstrap study identified stable thresholds of exposure to circulating DEHP metabolites above which there was an independent association with worse neurocognitive outcome. Subsequently, in a second patient cohort (N = 221), the observed independent associations were validated. Plasma concentrations of DEHP metabolites, which were virtually undetectable [0.029 (0.027-0.031) A mu mol/l] in healthy children, were 4.41 (3.76-5.06) A mu mol/l in critically ill children upon PICU admission (P < 0.001). Plasma DEHP metabolite concentrations decreased rapidly but remained 18 times higher until PICU discharge (P < 0.001). After adjusting for baseline risk factors and duration of PICU stay, and further for PICU complications and treatments, exceeding the potentially harmful threshold for exposure to circulating DEHP metabolites was independently associated with the attention deficit (all P a parts per thousand currency sign 0.008) and impaired motor coordination (all P a parts per thousand currency sign 0.02). The association with the attention deficit was confirmed in the validation cohort (all P a parts per thousand currency sign 0.01). This phthalate exposure effect explained half of the attention deficit in post-PICU patients. Iatrogenic exposure to DEHP metabolites during intensive care was independently and robustly associated with the important attention deficit observed in children 4 years after critical illness. Clinicaltrials.gov identifier: NCT00214916.
Language
English
Source (journal)
Intensive care medicine / European Society of Intensive Care Medicine; European Society of Pediatric and Neonatal Intensive Care. - Heidelberg, 1977, currens
Publication
Heidelberg : 2016
ISSN
0342-4642 [print]
1432-1238 [online]
DOI
10.1007/S00134-015-4159-5
Volume/pages
42 :3 (2016) , p. 379-392
ISI
000370198700009
Pubmed ID
26667027
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
Full text (open access)
Full text (publisher's version - intranet only)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Publication type
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Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Web of Science
Record
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Creation 05.04.2016
Last edited 09.10.2023
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