Effect of prenatal exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls on cognitive development in children: a longitudinal study in Taiwan
Open accessAbstract
Background: From 1978 to 1979, a group of people in Taiwan were exposed to high levels of heat-degraded polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) owing to accidental ingestion of contaminated rice oil. Children born to mothers following the exposure (‘Yucheng’ children) were known to have hyperpigmented skin and other dysmorphology after birth. Aims: To determine the effect of prenatal exposure to PCBs on cognitive development in Yucheng children. Method: One hundred and eighteen Yucheng children prenatally exposed to PCBs and degradation products, and community-matched control children who were exposed to background levels only, were followed from 1985 to 1998. The Bayley Scale for Infant Development, Chinese version of the Stanford – Binet IQTest, Raven's Coloured Progressive Matrices and Raven's Standardised Progressive Matrices were used to assess the cognitive development of these children. Results: The Yucheng children scored lower than control children on each of these methods of measurement between the ages of 2 and 12 years. Conclusions: Prenatal exposure to PCBs and their derivatives has long-term adverse effects on cognitive development in humans.
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Numerous cohort studies from Taiwan, Michigan, New York, the Netherlands, Germany, and the Faroe Islands have documented adverse effects of prenatal PCB exposure on cognitive function, learning ability, memory performance, and intelligence quotient in children.
“Numerous cohort studies from Taiwan, Michigan, New York, the Netherlands, Germany, and the Faroe Islands have documented adverse effects of prenatal PCB exposure on cognitive function, learning ability, memory performance, and intelligence quotient in children (Jacobson and Jacobson, 2003, 1996; Lai et al., 2001).”
From Environmental endocrine disruptors at the synapse: mechanisms linking chemical exposure to cognitive and behavioral dysfunction (2026) · cites this paper as Lai et al., 2001
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- Chen,Y. C., Guo,Y. L. & Hsu, C. C. (1992) Cognitive Cognitive development of Yu-Cheng (oil disease) children development of Yu-Cheng (oil disease) children prenatally exposed to heat-degraded PCBs. prenatally exposed to heat-degraded PCBs. Journal of the Journal of the
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Environmental factors associated with a spectrum of neurodevelopmental deficits
Mendola, P., Selevan, S. G., Gutter, S., & Rice, D. (2002) · Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews · doi:10.1002/mrdd.10033 · Cited by 279 · see citing works
Jocsak, G., Kiss, D. S., Alymbaeva, D., Diebald, A., Zsarnovszky, A., Heinzlmann, A., & Bartha, T. (2026) · Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnbeh.2026.1821381 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
“…studies from Taiwan, Michigan, New York, the Netherlands, Germany, and the Faroe Islands have documented adverse effects of prenatal PCB exposure on cognitive function, learning ability, memory performance, and intelligence quotient in children (Jacobson and Jacobson, 2003, 1996; Lai et al., 2001).”
- Authors
- Lai, T. J., Guo, Y. L., Guo, N. W., & Hsu, C. C.
- Affiliations
- Kaohsiung Medical University (TW)
- Chung Shan Medical University (TW)
- Corresponding author
- Guo, N. W.
- ORCID
- Venue
- British Journal of Psychiatry
- Publisher
- Royal College of Psychiatrists
- Published
- 2001-04
- Volume
- 178
- Issue
- S40
- Pages
- s49-s52
- ISSN
- 0007-1250 (ISSN-L)
- 1472-1465
- OpenAlex
- W2032670435
- Cited by
- 55
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 2 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 3 · 2014: 2 · 2013: 1
- FWCI
- 4.13
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- The British Journal of Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Council
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis › Toxic Organic Pollutants Impact
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis › Effects and risks of endocrine disrupting chemicals
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Plant Science › Pesticide Exposure and Toxicity
- Keywords
- polychlorinated biphenyls, prenatal exposure, cognitive development, developmental toxicity, IQ, Bayley Scales of Infant Development, Raven's Progressive Matrices, hyperpigmentation, Taiwan
- MeSH terms
- Child, Developmental Disabilities, Child, Preschool, Cognition Disorders, Female, Embryonic and Fetal Development, Food Contamination, Humans, Longitudinal Studies, Plant Oils, Polychlorinated Biphenyls, Pregnancy, Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects, Oryza, Taiwan
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