The aim of this project is to assess the relationship between the child outcomes of developmental disability and mental retardation (DD/MR) and maternal exposure to chemicals in soil during each month of pregnancy. This is the second phase in our investigation that builds on our findings of suspect inorganic chemicals (As and Cr) and improved statistical methods to conduct analyses of spatial relationships. In the second phase we will continue to test our hypotheses about clusters and suspect chemical exposures in South Carolina. Hypothesis 1: There are at least four additional clusters of DD/MR among infants identified by maternal residence during pregnancy. (Confirm phase 1 findings);Hypothesis 2: There are statistically significant associations between As, Cr, Pb, Hg, and pesticide exposures during critical periods of fetal development and risk for DD/MR in the infant, after controlling for maternal and child risk factors. (Confirm phase 1 findings) We will add two new components to develop statistical methods to analyze complex residential histories as they impact the outcome and to identify threshold levels of chemical concentrations that are predictive of excess risk for DD/MR. Hypothesis 3: At an individual level of analysis cumulative exposure to suspect chemicals from different residential exposures will be associated with the outcome. (NEW);and Hypothesis 4: For each of the chemicals associated with the outcome there will be a soil threshold that is associated with statistically elevated risk. (NEW) The study will be divided into three steps: (1) Identify suspect chemicals associated with DD/MR based on month of exposure. (2) Develop methods to utilize address change information and the entry and exit of individuals into the cohort, during the months of pregnancy in our modeling. (3) Develop methods to minimize the measurement error in the analysis of large data sets with both large number of observations and large number of variables. This research will provide epidemiologic evidence for an association of suspect chemicals and DD/MR and statistical innovation to analyze these associations that take into account measurement error, large spatial sample size, and other statistical challenges.

Public Health Relevance

The aim of this project is to assess the relationship between the child outcomes of developmental disability and mental retardation (DD/MR) and maternal exposure to chemicals in soil during each month of pregnancy. The importance of this research is substantial in terms of improved environmental spatial analysis and public health implications.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01ES012895-05
Application #
8026621
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-AARR-F (50))
Program Officer
Dilworth, Caroline H
Project Start
2004-04-01
Project End
2012-11-30
Budget Start
2010-12-01
Budget End
2011-11-30
Support Year
5
Fiscal Year
2011
Total Cost
$387,712
Indirect Cost
Name
University of South Carolina at Columbia
Department
Family Medicine
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
041387846
City
Columbia
State
SC
Country
United States
Zip Code
29208
Davis, Harley T; Aelion, C Marjorie; Liu, Jihong et al. (2016) Potential sources and racial disparities in the residential distribution of soil arsenic and lead among pregnant women. Sci Total Environ 551-552:622-30
Cai, Bo; Lawson, Andrew B; McDermott, Suzanne et al. (2016) A Bayesian semiparametric approach with change points for spatial ordinal data. Stat Methods Med Res 25:644-58
Davis, Harley T; Aelion, C Marjorie; Lawson, Andrew B et al. (2014) Associations between land cover categories, soil concentrations of arsenic, lead and barium, and population race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status. Sci Total Environ 490:1051-6
McDermott, Suzanne; Bao, Weichao; Aelion, C Marjorie et al. (2014) Does the metal content in soil around a pregnant woman's home increase the risk of low birth weight for her infant? Environ Geochem Health 36:1191-7
Onicescu, Georgiana; Lawson, Andrew B; McDermott, Suzanne et al. (2014) Bayesian importance parameter modeling of misaligned predictors: soil metal measures related to residential history and intellectual disability in children. Environ Sci Pollut Res Int 21:10775-86
Aelion, C Marjorie; Davis, Harley T; Lawson, Andrew B et al. (2014) Temporal and spatial variation in residential soil metal concentrations: implications for exposure assessments. Environ Pollut 185:365-8
McDermott, Suzanne; Bao, Weichao; Tong, Xin et al. (2014) Are different soil metals near the homes of pregnant women associated with mild and severe intellectual disability in children? Dev Med Child Neurol 56:888-97
Aelion, C Marjorie; Davis, Harley T; Lawson, Andrew B et al. (2013) Associations between soil lead concentrations and populations by race/ethnicity and income-to-poverty ratio in urban and rural areas. Environ Geochem Health 35:1-12
Lawson, Andrew B (2013) Commentary: Assessment of chance should be central in investigation of cancer clusters. Int J Epidemiol 42:448-9; discussion 455-6
Aelion, C Marjorie; Davis, Harley T; Lawson, Andrew B et al. (2012) Associations of estimated residential soil arsenic and lead concentrations and community-level environmental measures with mother-child health conditions in South Carolina. Health Place 18:774-81

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