Peer-reviewed article
Prenatal exposure to aromatic amines and associations with infant cognition in the ECHO.CA.IL cohorts.
Stephanie M Eick, Kaegan Ortlund, Amy M Padula, Kurunthachalam Kannan, Andréa Aguiar et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined whether prenatal exposure to aromatic amines—industrial chemicals found in consumer products—is associated with infant cognitive development. Researchers measured six types of aromatic amines in urine samples from 250 pregnant women in the second trimester and tested their babies' cognition at 7.5 months using eye-tracking technology. The study found weak associations between some aromatic amines and slower attention or poorer working memory in infants, with some differences between boys and girls.
Key points
- Aromatic amines were detected in urine samples of more than 50% of pregnant participants, indicating widespread exposure
- Increases in total aromatic amines and 4,4'methylenedianiline were associated with longer time to reach familiarization, suggesting poorer infant attention
- Cotinine exposure was associated with worsening novelty preference, indicating poorer working memory
- Aniline exposure showed stronger associations with slower attention in female infants compared to males
- This is the first human epidemiologic study to examine associations between prenatal aromatic amine exposure and infant cognition
Limitations
The study is observational and cannot establish causation; the associations found were generally weak with confidence intervals that crossed zero, limiting the strength of conclusions. The small sample size (N=250) and single cognitive assessment timepoint at 7.5 months do not allow assessment of longer-term developmental effects.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Aromatic amines (AAs) are carcinogenic compounds widely used in consumer products. However, few studies have assessed exposure to AAs during pregnancy, and no human studies have examined associations between AAs and infant cognition, despite in vitro evidence of neurotoxicity. OBJECTIVE: We conducted an analysis of prenatal AA exposure and infant cognitive outcomes using a subset of the Illinois Kids Development Study and Chemicals in Our Bodies, two prospective birth cohorts that together make up ECHO.CA.IL (N = 250). METHODS: AAs, including aniline, o/m-toluidine, 4-chloroaniline, o-anisidine, 4,4'methylenedianiline, and cotinine, were measured in 2nd trimester urine samples and detected in >50% of participants. Infant cognition was assessed using a visual recognition memory (VRM) task administered using an infrared eye tracker at 7.5 months. We used linear regression to examine associations between individual natural log transformed AAs and their molar sum with VRM outcomes. We examined effect modification and interaction by child sex. RESULTS: A natural log unit increase in ΣAAs and the individual analyte 4,4'methylenedianiline was associated with an increase in time to reach familiarization, suggesting poorer attention (β = 7.1, 95% confidence interval [CI] = -0.97, 15.16; β = 3.95, 95% CI = -0.27, 8.17, respectively). Cotinine was associated with worsening novelty preference (β=-0.01, 95% CI = -0.02, 0), indicating poorer working memory. Aniline was associated with an increase in time to reach familiarization only among females (p-value for interaction=0.06). IMPACT: This is the first epidemiologic study to evaluate prenatal exposure to aromatic amines in relation to infant cognition. We leverage biomarkers of aromatic amines exposure during pregnancy and a sensitive, eye-tracking-based visual recognition memory task at 7.5 months to capture early cognitive domains rarely assessed in environmental epidemiology. By examining individual compounds, their molar sum, and sex-specific effects within a prospective cohort, this study extends concerns about aromatic amines beyond carcinogenicity to early neurodevelopment, highlighting a previously unrecognized pathway of potential harm during a critical developmental window.
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- Measurement and assessment of prenatal aromatic amine exposure and infant cognition using biomarkers and eye-tracking visual recognition memory task
- Population
- 250 pregnant women and their infants from two prospective birth cohorts (Illinois Kids Development Study and Chemicals in Our Bodies)
Key finding
Natural log unit increase in total aromatic amines associated with 7.1 second increase in time to reach familiarization (95% CI: -0.97 to 15.16)
Eick et al. · PubMed (US National Library of Medicine) · 21 Sept 2026