Chronic Aflatoxin Exposure and Cognitive and Language Development in Young Children of Bangladesh: A Longitudinal Study

Overview

Journal Toxins (Basel)

Publisher MDPI

Specialty Toxicology

Date 2022 Dec 22

PMID 36548752

Authors

Mustafa Mahfuz

Md Shabab Hossain

Md Ashraful Alam

Md Amran Gazi

Shah Mohammad Fahim

Baitun Nahar

Tahmeed Ahmed

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Aflatoxin can cross the blood-brain barrier, damage brain tissues, and have the potential to harm the development of the human brain. Although dietary aflatoxin exposure is common in children, there is a paucity of data on aflatoxin exposure and child developmental outcomes. The child's cognitive, motor, and language functions were assessed using the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development-III or BSID-III at the same time points. Association between exposure to aflatoxin and subtests of BSID-III were examined using mixed-effect linear regression. Aflatoxin assays were performed on 194, 167, and 163 children at 15, 24, and 36 months of age, and chronic aflatoxin exposure was detected in 20.6%, 16.8%, and 60.7% of children, respectively. Multi-variable analyses showed that aflatoxin exposure was independently related to the children's cognitive score (β: -0.69; 95% CI: -1.36, -0.02), receptive language score (β: -0.90; 95% CI: -1.62, -0.17), and expressive language score (β: -1.01; 95% CI: -1.96, -0.05). We did not observe any association between exposure to aflatoxin and the motor function of children. Chronic exposure to aflatoxin exposure was linked to reduced cognitive, expressive, and receptive language scores of the study children. Further research is needed in a different setting to confirm this novel finding.

Citing Articles

Neurotoxicological Effects of Some Mycotoxins on Humans Health and Methods of Neuroprotection.

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PMID: 39852977 PMC: 11769516. DOI: 10.3390/toxins17010024.

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