Environmental Mixtures, Cognitive Control and Reward Processes, and Risk for Psychiatric Problems in Adolescence

NCT ID: NCT05795452

Last Updated: 2025-09-22

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: SUSPENDED
• Total Enrollment: 250 participants
• Study Classification: OBSERVATIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2022-02-20
• Study Completion Date: 2026-05-31

Brief Summary

This study aims to examine the cognitive and neural pathways underlying the joint impact of chemical and social exposures on two aspects of cognitive function: cognitive control and reward processing. The investigators will use high resolution, multi-band resting state and task functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) as well as neuromelanin stain MRI to identify pathways through which exposure to a mixture of prenatal chemical and early life social exposures alters brain function and behavior. Specifically, the investigators will leverage extant prenatal exposure data (N=550) from the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health (CCCEH) Mothers and Newborns (MN) birth cohort and study symptoms and brain function in adolescence.

Detailed Description

Adolescence is a period of high risk for the emergence of psychiatric issues, particularly attention problems, substance abuse, and psychotic experiences. Risk for these problems likely originates in the prenatal period when the brain undergoes significant rapid change, making this a particularly vulnerable time for alterations in brain development. Few studies have examined risk from prenatal exposure to neurotoxicants that emerge in adolescence and the biological pathways that underlie these associations. Emerging findings suggest that prenatal exposure to environmental chemicals (e.g. environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), air pollutants such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH)) is associated with behavioral symptoms of attentiondeficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), substance use disorders (SUD), and psychotic disorders (PD). These symptoms often emerge across adolescence, and frequently co-occur, suggesting shared underlying causes in the brain. Prenatal chemical exposures often co-occur with each other and with social exposures, such as early life stress (ELS) that are also associated with elevated behavioral symptoms. The joint contributions of these chemical and social exposures to these behavioral symptoms are understudied, as are the cognitive and neural pathways linking exposure to behavior.

Conditions

Psychiatric Problem

Study Design

• Observational Model Type: COHORT
• Study Time Perspective: PROSPECTIVE

Study Groups

Adolescents from the Mothers and Newborns Cohort

No interventions assigned to this group

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Adolescents between 13-20 years
• Available prenatal exposure data
• Adolescents and parents are English- or Spanish-speaking

Exclusion Criteria

• Presence of metallic device or dental braces
• Full Scale Intelligence Quotient (IQ) < 70 at prior assessment
• Pregnant women or lactating women

• Minimum Eligible Age: 13 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 20 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Sponsors

National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)

NIH

Sponsor Role: collaborator

Columbia University

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Responsibility Role: SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

Amy Margolis, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Columbia University

Locations

Columbia University Irving Medical Center

New York, New York, United States

New York State Psychiatric Institute

New York, New York, United States

Countries

United States

Other Identifiers

5R01ES032296-03

Identifier Type: NIH

Identifier Source: secondary_id

View Link

8191

Identifier Type: OTHER

Identifier Source: secondary_id

AAAU9473

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id