A Residential Dust Control Intervention to Reduce Early Childhood Exposure toChemical Mixtures

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Abstract Exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) during critical periods of development are linked to adverse child health outcomes, including asthma/allergies, behavior problems, IQ decrements, and obesity. Phthalates, flame retardants, and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are EDCs found in residential dust due to their use in home furnishings, building materials, electronics, and personal care products. Children are exposed to these EDCs as a mixture over the first years of life, often at higher levels than adults. Despite growing consensus that EDC exposures must be reduced, we lack effective interventions to decrease children’s exposure to EDC mixtures in their homes, where they spend the majority of their time. Thus, it is imperative to quantify the contribution of EDC mixtures in residential dust to children’s EDC mixture body burden and determine if interventions that reduce residential dust EDC mixtures effectively diminish childhood exposure to EDC mixtures. We will address this gap in knowledge using data from the Health Outcomes and Measures of the Environment (HOME) Study, a previously conducted randomized controlled trial that enrolled pregnant women from Cincinnati, Ohio and followed their children until age 3 years. We repeatedly collected biospecimens, residential dust samples, and other data from ~200 children ages 1 to 3 years. Using these existing data, we will: (1) Estimate the extent that exposure to EDC mixtures in residential dust is related to children’s EDC mixture body burden; (2) Determine if an intervention designed to reduce residential dust can lower children’s EDC mixture body burden; and (3) Quantify the extent that EDC mixtures in residential dust mediate the relation between an intervention designed to lower residential dust and children’s EDC mixture body burden. Moreover, we will determine if these associations differ by child sex, race/ethnicity, hand-to- mouth behavior, residence type (single vs. multi-family), and residential cleanliness. This solutions-oriented proposal includes experts in EDCs, epidemiology, biostatistics, intervention studies, and children’s environmental health. Together, we will efficiently determine if residential dust control can decrease children’s exposure to EDC mixtures. These results will serve as a basis to design a randomized controlled trial to reduce exposure to EDC mixtures using an ongoing cohort study in Rhode Island. In the absence of population-level interventions to mitigate children’s EDC exposure, our study may provide families and clinicians with evidence- based recommendations about the efficacy of residential dust control to reduce exposure EDC mixtures.