A Latent Profile Analysis
Report Publish Date: August 19, 2021
This journal article describes a study looking at brain development among preschoolers who were exposed to contaminated water in Flint, Mich., in the first two years of their lives.
The authors found that half (50%) of the children studied had weak functioning in all the domains measured, about a third (34%) were developing normally, and about one-sixth (16%) had lower scores in cognitive and behavioral measures. Children in all three groups had normal levels of adaptive behavior.
The Flint water crisis that began in April 2014, during which high levels of lead were found in city water, “amplified socioeconomic and racial inequalities” in a place where 70% of children lived in poverty, the authors say. They wanted to know how the crisis may have affected the brain development of very young children in the city.
The authors studied mothers and children who lived in Flint and received water from its distribution system between April 25, 2014, and October 15, 2015, during the Flint water crisis. Children were born between March 1, 2012, and April 24, 2014.
The authors assessed 184 children in person using the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence–Fourth Edition, the NIH Toolbox Cognitive Batteries, Child Behavior Checklist for Ages 1.5–5, Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale, Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals Preschool–Second Edition, and Social Responsiveness Scale–2.
“Findings of differential outcome profiles in the Flint sample have possible implications for understanding the development of children in other communities in [the] USA who experience comparable socio-environmental exposures.”
—the Authors, who emphasize that all Flint children may need long-term support to overcome the potential impacts of lead exposure.
$231,200
Awarded on: 12/17/2019
Timeframe: 2020-2023
Grant number: 77131
Location: Grand Rapids, MI
Michigan State University, College of Human Medicine Grand Rapids, MI 49503
http://humanmedicine.msu.edu/This study and report was conducted and created by the following people.
