BPA Exposure in Pregnancy Leads to Anxiety and Depression in Boys

Boys who were exposed prenatally to BPA, a chemical utilized in plastics could be more likely to display signs of anxiety and depression at age 10-12. The new study made by researchers at the Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health (CCCEH) inside the Mailman School of Public Health examined the effects of early exposure to the chemical Bisphenol A (BPA). The outcomes are published in the journal Environmental Research.

BPA is present in some plastics and is found in meal containers, plastic water bottles, dental sealants, and thermal receipt paper. In the body, BPA is a synthetic estrogen, probably the most type of chemical compounds referred to as “endocrine disruptors.” The Columbia researchers, led by Frederica Perera, PhD, DrPH, director of CCCEH, earlier said that prenatal exposure to BPA was once related to emotionally reactive and aggressive behavior, and symptoms of nervousness and depression in boys at age 7-9.

Perera and her co-researchers studied 241 nonsmoking pregnant women and their kids, a subset of CCCEH’s longstanding urban birth cohort study in New York City, from pregnancy through childhood. To measure the amount of BPA that had been absorbed within the body, researchers accrued a urine sample from the moms during the 1/3 trimester of their being pregnant, and from the kids at age 3 and age 5. At ages 10-12, children accomplished an interview with a researcher about their signs of depression and completed a self-evaluation that measures anxiousness.

Researchers managed for reasons that have been beforehand associated with BPA exposure stages, including socioeconomic explanations. They found that boys with the highest levels of prenatal exposure to BPA had extra symptoms of depression and anxiety than boys with decreases prenatal exposure to BPA; no such associations were found in girls.

According to neuropsychologist and co-investigator Amy Margolis, PhD, assistant professor of Medical Psychology in Psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center, These findings are consistent with our prior reports on BPA and children’s development assessed at earlier ages and suggests greater susceptibility of the male brain during prenatal development. Anxiety and depression are particularly worrisome because they can interfere with a child’s ability to concentrate, perform in school, socialize and make friends.

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