Prenatal lead, cadmium and mercury exposure and associations with motor skills at age 7 years in a UK observational birth cohort

摘要

Background: Lead and mercury are freely transferred across the placenta, while cadmium tends to accumulate in the placenta. Each contributes to adverse neurological outcomes for the child. Although prenatal heavy metal exposure has been linked with an array of neurodevelopmental outcomes in childhood, its association with the development of motor skills in children has not been robustly studied.