Phthalates, Bisphenols, and Childhood Allergic Phenotypes: Findings from Two Birth Cohort Studies
Bibliographic record
Abstract
ABSTRACT Background Phthalates and bisphenols may contribute to childhood allergic outcomes, but whether these are differentially associated with atopic or non-atopic phenotypes is uncertain. We investigated whether early-life exposure to these chemicals differentially impacts atopic and non-atopic allergic outcomes. Methods We used two prospective birth cohorts to investigate distinct exposure windows. The Barwon Infant Study (n = 797) measured urinary phthalate and bisphenol metabolites at 36 weeks’ gestation. The Canadian Healthy Infant Longitudinal Development Study (n = 993) measured phthalate metabolites at 3, 12, and 36 months. Atopy was assessed via skin prick tests at 4-5 years. Outcomes included asthma, wheeze, eczema, and rhinitis at 4-5 years. Models were stratified by atopy. We modelled exposure mixtures using quantile G-computation and Bayesian kernel machine regression. Results Phthalate mixtures were associated with increased asthma risk in both exposure windows. Prenatal phthalate mixtures were more strongly associated with non-atopic asthma (adjusted risk ratio [aRR] = 1.83; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.10-3.04), with evidence of effect modification by atopy (p = 0.02 for interaction). Postnatal phthalate mixtures were associated with non-atopic asthma (aRR = 1.82, 95% CI: 1.19-2.78), though the association did not differ by phenotype (p = 0.45 for interaction). Phthalate mixtures showed U-shaped (prenatal) and inverse U-shaped (postnatal) associations with atopic asthma, and linear associations with non-atopic asthma. There was little evidence of associations for other allergic outcomes. Conclusion Early-life exposure to phthalates may differentially influence the risk of childhood atopic and non-atopic asthma. Future studies are needed to confirm these associations. HIGHLIGHTS We used two birth cohorts to examine distinct exposure windows to phthalates. Pre-and postnatal phthalate exposure was associated with increased asthma risk. Pre-and postnatal associations with asthma differed by atopic status. There was little evidence of association with other allergic outcomes.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.009 | 0.014 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.001 | 0.004 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.002 | 0.003 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.002 | 0.001 |
| Open science | 0.001 | 0.003 |
| Research integrity | 0.001 | 0.002 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.002 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".