Prenatal exposure to acrylamide and neuropsychiatric disorders: a biomarker-based birth cohort study with 34 years of follow-up

Background The widespread exposure to acrylamide from diet and tobacco smoke during prenatal development is of concern as acrylamide is neurotoxic and potentially contributes to the development of neuropsychiatric disorders. We aimed to examine associations between prenatal acrylamide exposure and neuropsychiatric outcomes. Methods In this biomarker-based study of offspring from the Danish Foetal Origins 1988–1989 birth cohort, pregnant women were enrolled at gestational week 30 at a routine antenatal clinic at Aarhus Hospital, Denmark. Liveborn singletons with available exposure and outcome data were included. The current study was conducted from 2022 to 2026. Prenatal acrylamide exposure was quantified using haemoglobin adducts (HbAA) in maternal blood collected during pregnancy. Incident cases of depression, anxiety, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), co-occurring ADHD and autism spectrum disorder (ASD), as a composite outcome, and any neuropsychiatric disorders were identified from national diagnostic and prescription registries in the first 34 years of life (1988–2023). The associations were estimated using adjusted log-linear Poisson regression models. Findings Among 861 offspring, 146 cases of depression, 72 of anxiety, 45 of ADHD, 53 of co-occurring ADHD and ASD, and 150 cases of any neuropsychiatric diagnosis occurred during follow-up. Median (P5–P95) HbAA was 93 (45–250) pmol/g Hb and maternal active smoking during pregnancy was common (42%). Each 10-pmol/g Hb increase in HbAA was associated with IRRs of 1.02 (95% CI 0.99–1.05) for depression and 1.03 (0.99–1.07) for anxiety. High vs. low exposure (≥P75 = 146 pmol/g Hb, vs. Interpretation The findings support an association between prenatal acrylamide exposure and increased incidence of depression and anxiety in adolescence and adulthood. These findings require replication in cohorts with repeated exposure measurements of a range of dietary exposures to establish to what extent the prenatal exposure to acrylamide was responsible for the observed associations. Funding European Research Council, Innovation Fund Denmark, Danish Council for Strategic Research and Stockholm University.