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Background: Prenatal polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) exposures may influence children's neurodevelopment.

Objective: We examined the association of prenatal PBDE and PCB exposures with children's reading skills at ages 5 and 8 years, Full-Scale Intelligence Quotient (FSIQ), and externalizing behavior problems at age 8 years.

Methods: From 239 mother-child pairs recruited (2003-2006) in Cincinnati, Ohio, we measured maternal serum PBDE and PCB concentrations, assessed child's reading skills using the Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement III (WJ-III) at age 5 years and the Wide Range Achievement Test-4 (WRAT-4) at age 8 years, tested FSIQ using the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-IV (WISC-IV), and externalizing behavior problems using the Behavioral Assessment System for Children-2 (BASC-2) at age 8 years. We used multiple linear regression to examine the association of prenatal PBDE and PCB concentrations and reading, FSIQ, and externalizing behavior problems after adjusting for covariates.

Results: An increase of Sum4PBDEs (BDE-47, BDE-99, BDE-100, and BDE-153) by 10 times was not significantly associated with reading scores at age 5 years at the p = 0.05 level but was inversely associated with Reading Composite scores (beta: -6.2, 95% CI: -11.7, -0.6) and FSIQ (beta: -5.3, 95% CI: -10.6, -0.02) at age 8 years; it was positively associated with the score for externalizing behavior problems (beta: 3.5, 95% CI: -0.1, 7.2) at age 8 years. Prenatal Sum(4)PCBs (PCB-118, -153, -138-158, and -180) was not significantly associated with a child's reading skills, FSIQ, and externalizing behavior problems.

Conclusion: Prenatal PBDE concentration was inversely associated with reading skills and FSIQ and positively associated with externalizing behavior problems at age 8 years. No significant -associations were found in prenatal PCB concentration.