PCBs and measures of attention and impulsivity on a continuous performance task of young adults

Bita Behforooz; Joan Newman; Mia V Gallo; Akwesasne Task Force on the Environment; Lawrence M Schell

doi:10.1016/j.ntt.2017.08.004

PCBs and measures of attention and impulsivity on a continuous performance task of young adults

Neurotoxicol Teratol. 2017 Nov:64:29-36. doi: 10.1016/j.ntt.2017.08.004. Epub 2017 Sep 4.

Authors

Bita Behforooz¹, Joan Newman², Mia V Gallo³; Akwesasne Task Force on the Environment⁴; Lawrence M Schell⁵

Affiliations

¹ Educational Psychology and Methodology, University at Albany, SUNY, 1400 Washington Ave., Albany, NY 1222, USA. Electronic address: bita.behforooz@CCAurora.edu.
² Educational Psychology and Methodology, University at Albany, SUNY, 1400 Washington Ave., Albany, NY 1222, USA.
³ Department of Anthropology, and Center for the Elimination of Minority Health Disparities, University at Albany, SUNY, 1400 Washington Ave., Albany, NY 1222, USA.
⁴ Akwesasne Mohawk Nation.
⁵ Department of Anthropology, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Center for the Elimination of Minority Health Disparities, 1400 Washington Ave., Albany, NY 1222, USA.

Abstract

The present study examines the relationship between current body burden of persistent PCBs and attention and impulsivity in 140 Akwesasne Mohawk young adults aged 17 to 21 whose environment has been contaminated by industrial effluent. Attention and impulsivity were measured by errors of omission, errors of commission, and patterns of reaction time responses on the Conners Continuous Performance Test. The PCB measure was the sum of those persistent PCB congeners detected in 50% of the participants. After adjusting for multiple covariates, regression analyses showed a significant positive relationship between PCB levels and omission scores, but only for males.

Keywords: Attention; Conners Continuous Performance Test (CPT); Impulsivity; Mohawk; Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs); Young adults.

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Adult
Attention / drug effects*
Female
Humans
Impulsive Behavior / drug effects*
Indians, North American
Male
Polychlorinated Biphenyls / toxicity*
Psychological Tests
Young Adult

Substances

Polychlorinated Biphenyls

Abstract

MeSH terms

Substances

Grants and funding