CHICAGO — Exposure to BPA before birth could affect girls’ behavior at age 3, according to the latest study on potential health effects of the widespread chemical.
Preschool-age girls whose mothers had relatively high urine levels of bisphenol-A during pregnancy scored worse — but still within a normal range — on behavior measures including anxiety and hyperactivity than other young girls.
The results are not conclusive, and experts not involved in the study said factors other than BPA might explain the results. The researchers acknowledge that “considerable debate” remains about whether BPA is harmful but say their findings should prompt additional research.
BPA has many uses and is found in some plastic bottles and coatings in metal food cans. It was widely used in plastic baby bottles and sippy cups, but industry phased out that use.
The researchers measured BPA in 244 Cincinnati-area mothers’ urine twice during pregnancy and at childbirth. The women evaluated their children at age 3 using standard behavior questionnaires.
Nearly all the women had measurable BPA levels, like most Americans. But increasingly high urine levels during pregnancy were linked with increasingly worse behavior in their daughters. Boys’ behavior did not seem to be affected.
The researchers said if BPA can cause behavior changes, that could pose academic and social problems for girls already at risk for those difficulties.
“These subtle shifts can actually have very dramatic implications at the population level,” said Joe Braun, the lead author and a research fellow at Harvard’s School of Public Health.
The study was released online today in Pediatrics.
