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Study design

Participants wore silicone wristbands for 30 days to estimate exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), provided a stool sample for microbiome profiling and completed neurobehavioral assessments. The analysis included 34 adults grouped by high impulsivity/poorer attention or low impulsivity/faster attention.

Findings

Higher PAH exposure was associated with the high-impulsivity/poorer-attention group, with a sex-dependent pattern. PAH profiles and behavioral group also tracked differences in microbial community composition. No individual genus was significantly associated with behavioral group after multiple-testing correction; two genera were proposed only as candidates based on cross-referencing exploratory signals.

Limits

This small, cross-sectional cohort cannot show that pollution altered the microbiome or caused attention and impulsivity differences. The proposed taxa are hypothesis-generating, and the paper does not test a dietary or probiotic intervention.

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Sources

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