LAUSR

Introduction: Phthalate exposure may reduce intellectual development in young children. In 2011, numerous Taiwanese children had been reported to have consumed phthalate‐tainted products. We investigated the effects of phthalate exposure on the intellectual development of these children after the 2011 Taiwan di‐2‐ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) episode. Methods: We recruited 204 children, aged 3–12 y, from 3 hospitals in Taiwan between 2012 and 2013. First‐morning urine samples were collected for analyzing 5 phthalate metabolites. We applied a Bayesian model to estimate the past DEHP exposure (estDEHPADD) of each participant before the 2011 DEHP episode. Demographic information, consumption of phthalate‐tainted products, and maternal education, of each participant were obtained using a questionnaire. We used the Wechsler intelligence evaluation tools for assessing the children's and maternal intelligence quotient. Results and discussion: The median levels of mono‐2‐ethylhexyl phthalate, mono(2‐ethyl‐5‐hydroxyhexyl) phthalate, mono(2‐ethyl‐5‐oxohexyl) phthalate (MEOHP), mono‐n‐butyl phthalate, and mono‐iso‐butyl phthalate in the children were 9.97, 45.8, 32.2, 46.2, and 24.3 &mgr;g/g creatinine, respectively. Using the aforementioned urinary phthalate metabolites, we found that the children's verbal comprehension index (N =98) was significantly negatively associated with urinary log10 MEOHP (&bgr;, −11.92; SE, 5.33; 95%CI, −22.52˜ −1.33; P=0.028) and log10 &Sgr;DBP metabolites (&bgr;, −10.95; SE, 4.93; 95%CI, −20.74˜ −1.16; P=0.029) after adjustment for age, gender, maternal IQ and education, passive smoking, estDEHPADD, active and passive smoking during pregnancy. Through a tolerable daily intake‐based approach, we only found a significant negative association between past estimate DEHPADD and VIQ≥3‐<6 in preschool children whereas no correlation was observed between current DEHP exposure and IQ≥3‐<6 score with/ without estimate DEHPADD adjustment. It revealed that the effect of past high‐DEHP exposure on verbal‐related neurodevelopment of younger child are more sensitive. Conclusion: Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that exposure to DEHP and DnBP affects intellectual development in preschool and school‐aged children, particularly their language learning or expression ability. HighlightsWe evaluated the past/current phthalate exposure in children exposed to di‐2‐ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP)‐tainted products.We used Wechsler intelligence tools to assess the intellectual development of children exposed to DEHP‐tainted products.Verbal comprehension index of school‐aged children are senetive to current DEHP and DBP metabolites.Verbal‐related neurodevelopment of preschool children are sensitive to the past DEHP exposure index.We concluded that DEHP and DBP exposure affect verbal‐related development in preschool and school‐aged children.