Antibiotic mixture exposure in meconium affects child neurodevelopment via altering early-life gut…

Cohort studyEnvironmental pollution (Barking, Essex : 1987)· Aug 2026

Antibiotic mixture exposure in meconium affects child neurodevelopment via altering early-life gut microbiome and metabolome.

Yuhan Zhou, Feng Wang, Yingya Zhao … Yunhui Zhang

Child Development & BehaviourCohort studyQ1IF 8.0

Higher meconium antibiotic burden linked to lower infant developmental scores at 6 months

Antibiotic mixture exposure in meconium affects child neurodevelopment via altering early-life gut microbiome and metabolome.

Yuhan Zhou … Yunhui Zhang

Environmental pollution (Barking, Essex · Aug 2026 · Q1 in General Medicine

Background

Previous evidence has established associations of antibiotic exposure in early life with neurodevelopmental disorders.

Methods

This study included 300 mother-infant pairs from the Shanghai Maternal-Child Pairs Cohort.

Results

each IQR rise in antibiotic burden lowered 6-month developmental scores

OR by subgroup · 95% CI

More results

Meconium samples were used to quantify concentrations of 18 antibiotics using high-performance liquid chromatography (high-performance liquid chromatography).

More results

Each IQR increment of antibiotic burden was also associated with greater odds of belonging to the lower-score group of total Ages and Stages Questionnaires trajectory (OR = 1.20, 95% CI: 1.04, 1.42) and the lower-score group of personal-social trajectory (OR = 1.13, 95% CI: 1.01, 1.28).

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Conclusion

These hypothesis-generating findings require independent replication, longitudinal temporal validation, and experimental studies before causal mechanisms or microbiota-targeted interventions can be inferred.

Antibiotic mixture exposure in meconium affects child neurodevelopment via altering early-life gut microbiome and metabolome.

Antibiotic mixture exposure in meconium affects child neurodevelopment via altering early-life gut microbiome and metabolome.

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