Maternal occupational exposure to carbonaceous nanoscale particles and neurodevelopmental outcomes in early childhood: Analysis of the French Longitudinal Study of Children - Elfe study

Objective: To investigate the association between occupational exposures to carbonaceous unintentionally emitted nanoscale particles (UNPs) during pregnancy and the child's language development and behaviour at two years old. Methods: Using data from the French Longitudinal Study of Childhood - ELFE, we selected mothers who worked during pregnancy and their children. Exposure to carbonaceous UNPs was assessed by the MatPUF (job-exposure matrix for ultrafine particles). Children's lexical development was analysed using 'the Mac Arthur - Bates communicative development inventories-words and sentences-short form' (MB-CDI) in a multivariate binary logistic regression. Their risk for autism spectrum disorders was studied using 'the Modified-CHecklist for Autism in Toddler' (M-CHAT) according to the recommended thresholds (low risk = 0-2; intermediate risk = 3-6 and high risk = 7-23) in unordered multinomial logistic regression models. Results: Maternal occupational exposure to carbonaceous UNPs was associated with delayed child language development (ORadj: 1.34; 95 % CI: 1.00, 1.80) but not with behavioural disorders (autism spectrum disorders) at two years old. Conclusion: This is the first epidemiological study to show a significant association between maternal occupational exposure to carbonaceous nanoscale particles and child language development at 2 years old.