Association of prenatal exposure to perfluorinated and polyfluoroalkyl substances with childhood neurodevelopment: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Although previous studies have shown an association between prenatal exposure to perfluorinated and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and neurodevelopmental disorders in children, the results have been inconsistent. We summarize studies on the association between prenatal PFAS exposure and neurodevelopment in children in order to better understand the relationship. We conducted a meta-analysis of prenatal PFAS exposure and developmental outcomes associated with intellectual, executive function and behavioral difficulty in children to explore the relationship between prenatal exposure to perfluorinated and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and neurodevelopmental disorders in children. We searched for articles published up to August 3, 2023, included and quantified original studies on PFAS and child Intelligence Quotient (IQ), executive function and behavioral difficulty during pregnancy, and systematically summarized articles that could not be quantified. There is evidence of sex-specific relationship between PFAS exposure and children's PIQ. We found that PFOS [β = −1.56, 95% CI = −2.96, − 0.07; exposure = per 1 ln (ng/ml) increase], PFOA [β = −1.87, 95% CI = −3.29, − 0.46; exposure = per 1 ln (ng/ml) increase], PFHxS [β = −2.02, 95% CI = −3.23, − 0.81; exposure = per 1 ln (ng/ml) increase] decreased performance IQ in boys, but PFOS [β = 1.56, 95% CI = 0.06, 3.06; exposure = per 1 ln (ng/ml) increase] increased performance IQ in girls. PFAS are associated with executive function impairments in children, but not related to behavioral difficulty in children.