Childhood lead exposure and sex-based neurobehavioral functioning in adolescence

It is well documented that childhood lead exposure is associated with long-term decreases in intelligence quotients (IQ). Lesser known is the relationship with neurobehavioral domains, especially in adolescence. This study sought to identify cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between lead exposure and adolescent executive and visual-motor functioning and examine sex-based differences. Participants were 681 children from Jintan, China who had their blood lead levels (BLLs) assessed at age 3–5 years and 12 years old and neurobehavioral functioning assessed through the University of Pennsylvania Computerized Neurocognitive Battery (PennCNB) platform http://www.med.upenn.edu/bbl at 12 years old. Mean BLLs were 6.41 mcg/dl at age 3–5 years and 3.10 mcg/dl at 12. BLLs at 3–5 years and 12 years were used as predictors for the individual neurobehavioral domains in general linear models while controlling for father and mother occupation and education, residence location, age, and adolescent IQ. Models were run separately for males and females. In adjusted models, males BLLs at 3–5 years were associated with increased time to correctly complete tasks in multiple domains including abstraction/flexibility (β = 19.90, 95% CI( 4.26, 35.54) and spatial processing (β = 96.00, 95% CI 6.18, 185.82) at 12 years. For females in adjusted models, BLLs at 3–5 years were associated with increasing time to correctly complete tasks on the episodic memory domain task (β = 34.59, 95% CI 5.33, 63.84) at 12 years. Two adolescent cross-sectional relationships remained in the adjusted models for males only, suggesting a positive association between BLLs and increasing time for correct responses on the attentional domain task (β = 15.08, 95% CI 0.65, 29.51) and decreasing time for correct responses on the episodic memory task (β = −73.49, 95% CI −138.91, −8.06) in males at 12 years. These associations remained with and without controlling for IQ. These results suggest that lead exposure is associated with overall deficits in male and female neurobehavioral functioning, though in different domains and different timing of exposure.