INS NYC 2024 Program

Poster	Poster Session 05 Program Schedule 02/15/2024 02:30 pm - 03:45 pm Room: Shubert Complex (Posters 1-60) Poster Session 05: Neuropsychiatry \| Addiction/Dependence \| Stress/Coping \| Emotional/Social Processes Final Abstract #41 Blood-Based Pollutants are associated with worsening Cognitive Health Christian Habeck, Columbia University, New York, United States Vrinda Kalia, Columbia University, New York, United States Yunjia Lai, Columbia University, New York, United States Yian Gu, Columbia University, New York, United States Yaakov Stern, Columbia University, New York, United States Gary Miller, Columbia University, New York, United States Category: Acquired Brain Injury (TBI/Cerebrovascular Injury and Disease - Child) Keyword 1: environmental pollutants / exposures Keyword 2: aging (normal) Keyword 3: neuroimaging: structural Objective: We evaluated the effects of chemical exposures on cognitive aging. An analysis of blood plasma samples was conducted with gas-chromatography high-resolution mass spectrometry (GC-HRMS). This allowed us to determine the concentrations of 60 prevalent environmental pollutants, which encompassed pesticides, industrial chemicals, and other substances linked to potential health risks. Our objective was to quantify these exposures, collectively known as the "blood exposome," and correlate them with structural brain and cognitive endpoints, in order to shed light on how environmental pollutants may influence cognitive well-being and brain function. Participants and Methods: We enrolled 142 cognitively normal individuals, ranging from 20 to 80 years old. We conducted structural brain imaging and phlebotomy twice, with 5 years between each data collection point. Mean cortical thickness was obtained from the software package FreeSurfer. The cognitive endpoints (1) episodic memory, (2) fluid reasoning, (3) perceptual speed, and (4) vocabulary. Each were computed from domain-Z score averages of 3 neuropsychological test measures. A general-cognition measure (=G) was also obtained by averaging all 4 cognitive scores. To understand how changes in the concentration of exposome substances in their blood over time were related to concurrent cognitive changes, we used statistical regression analysis, using the timepoint 1 measures of age, gender, years of education, mean cortical thickness, and general cognition as covariates of no interest. We employed False Discovery Rate corrections at q<0.1 to identify exposome substances with the strongest associations to the cognitive endpoints. Results: Of the 5 x 60=300 regression analyses that were run, we found 6 associations at q<0.1, four of which were negative as expected, indicating worsening cognition with increasing exposure. Decrements in episodic memory and general cognition were associated with accumulation of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) 60 (a chemicals in widespread industrial use). Apart from these associations, vocabulary was negatively impacted by three substances: (1) 1,2,3-Trichlorobenzene (primarily used in industrial solvents), (2) Mirex (an erstwhile pesticide, phased out and largely banned since the 1970s), and (3) PCB 33 (in tightly regulated, yet widespread, industrial use as a lubricant and insulator ). The paradoxical positive longitudinal associations were found between the herbicide and agricultural compound Metribuzin and vocabulary, and between PCB 81 and fluid reasoning. We supplemented these analyses with split-sample simulations to confirm that the exposome variables have added predictive utility beyond the covariates also in held-out data. Conclusions: These findings highlight the potential importance of blood-based exposome substances in determining cognitive and health. Our agenda for the future will be the clarification of the role of lifestyle influences (diet, exercise, noxious occupational exposures, etc.) for the blood absorption of these common pollutants. Further, we will investigate the association of exposome variables with cortical thinning, changes in white-matter tract integrity, and accumulation of white-matter hyperintensities.

Poster

02/15/2024
02:30 pm - 03:45 pm
Room: Shubert Complex (Posters 1-60)

Poster Session 05: Neuropsychiatry | Addiction/Dependence | Stress/Coping | Emotional/Social Processes

Final Abstract #41

Blood-Based Pollutants are associated with worsening Cognitive Health

Christian Habeck, Columbia University, New York, United States
Vrinda Kalia, Columbia University, New York, United States
Yunjia Lai, Columbia University, New York, United States
Yian Gu, Columbia University, New York, United States
Yaakov Stern, Columbia University, New York, United States
Gary Miller, Columbia University, New York, United States

Category: Acquired Brain Injury (TBI/Cerebrovascular Injury and Disease - Child)

Keyword 1: environmental pollutants / exposures
Keyword 2: aging (normal)
Keyword 3: neuroimaging: structural

Objective:

We evaluated the effects of chemical exposures on cognitive aging. An analysis of blood plasma samples was conducted with gas-chromatography high-resolution mass spectrometry (GC-HRMS). This allowed us to determine the concentrations of 60 prevalent environmental pollutants, which encompassed pesticides, industrial chemicals, and other substances linked to potential health risks. Our objective was to quantify these exposures, collectively known as the "blood exposome," and correlate them with structural brain and cognitive endpoints, in order to shed light on how environmental pollutants may influence cognitive well-being and brain function.

Participants and Methods:

We enrolled 142 cognitively normal individuals, ranging from 20 to 80 years old. We conducted structural brain imaging and phlebotomy twice, with 5 years between each data collection point. Mean cortical thickness was obtained from the software package FreeSurfer. The cognitive endpoints (1) episodic memory, (2) fluid reasoning, (3) perceptual speed, and (4) vocabulary. Each were computed from domain-Z score averages of 3 neuropsychological test measures. A general-cognition measure (=G) was also obtained by averaging all 4 cognitive scores. To understand how changes in the concentration of exposome substances in their blood over time were related to concurrent cognitive changes, we used statistical regression analysis, using the timepoint 1 measures of age, gender, years of education, mean cortical thickness, and general cognition as covariates of no interest. We employed False Discovery Rate corrections at q<0.1 to identify exposome substances with the strongest associations to the cognitive endpoints.

Results:

Of the 5 x 60=300 regression analyses that were run, we found 6 associations at q<0.1, four of which were negative as expected, indicating worsening cognition with increasing exposure. Decrements in episodic memory and general cognition were associated with accumulation of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) 60 (a chemicals in widespread industrial use). Apart from these associations, vocabulary was negatively impacted by three substances: (1) 1,2,3-Trichlorobenzene (primarily used in industrial solvents), (2) Mirex (an erstwhile pesticide, phased out and largely banned since the 1970s), and (3) PCB 33 (in tightly regulated, yet widespread, industrial use as a lubricant and insulator ). The paradoxical positive longitudinal associations were found between the herbicide and agricultural compound Metribuzin and vocabulary, and between PCB 81 and fluid reasoning. We supplemented these analyses with split-sample simulations to confirm that the exposome variables have added predictive utility beyond the covariates also in held-out data.

Conclusions:

These findings highlight the potential importance of blood-based exposome substances in determining cognitive and health. Our agenda for the future will be the clarification of the role of lifestyle influences (diet, exercise, noxious occupational exposures, etc.) for the blood absorption of these common pollutants. Further, we will investigate the association of exposome variables with cortical thinning, changes in white-matter tract integrity, and accumulation of white-matter hyperintensities.