Prenatal exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, reduced hippocampal subfield volumes, and word reading.

ABSTRACT: Reading difficulties and exposure to air pollution are both disproportionately high among youth living in economically disadvantaged contexts. Critically, variance in reading skills in youth living in higher socioeconomic status (SES) contexts largely derives from genetic factors, whereas environmental factors explain more of the variance in reading skills among youth living in lower SES contexts. Although reading research has focused closely on the psychosocial environment, little focus has been paid to the effects of the chemical environment. In this study, we measured prenatal exposure to a common air pollutant, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), via the presence (versus absence) of PAH-DNA adducts in maternal blood during the third trimester of pregnancy. We examined the impact of

SUBMITTER: Yang H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11787556 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature