Associations between prenatal caffeine exposure and child development: Longitudinal results from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study

• Published in: Neurotoxicology and teratology 2024-11, Vol.107, p.107404, Article 107404
• Main Authors: Modi, Hailey, Baranger, David A.A., Paul, Sarah E., Gorelik, Aaron J., Hornstein, Alana, Balbona, Jared V., Agrawal, Arpana, Bijsterbosch, Janine D., Bogdan, Ryan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Child development; Longitudinal; Mental health; Prenatal caffeine exposure; Psychopathology
• ISSN: 0892-0362; 1872-9738; 1872-9738
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ntt.2024.107404

Though caffeine use during pregnancy is common, its longitudinal associations with child behavioral and physical health outcomes remain poorly understood. Here, we estimated associations between prenatal caffeine exposure, body mass index (BMI), and behavior as children enter adolescence. Longitudinal data and caregiver-reported prenatal caffeine exposure were obtained from the ongoing Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development (ABCD)SM Study, which recruited 11,875 children aged 9–11 years at baseline from 21 sites across the United States starting June 1, 2016. Prenatal caffeine exposure was analyzed as a 4-level categorical variable, and further group contrasts were used to characterize “any exposure” and “daily exposure” groups. Outcomes included psychopathology characteristics in children, sleep problems, and BMI. Potentially confounding covariates included familial (e.g., income, familial psychopathology), pregnancy (e.g., prenatal substance exposure), and child (e.g., caffeine use) variables. Among 10,873 children (5686 boys [52.3 %]; mean [SD] age, 9.9 [0.6] years) with nonmissing prenatal caffeine exposure data, 6560 (60 %) were exposed to caffeine prenatally. Relative to no exposure, daily caffeine exposure was associated with higher child BMI (β = 0.08; FDR-corrected p = 0.02), but was not associated with child behavior following correction for multiple testing. Those exposed to two or more cups of caffeine daily (n = 1028) had greater sleep problems than those with lower/no exposure (β > 0.92; FDR-corrected p