Irva Hertz‐picciotto
Biographic Data
| ID | 4622104 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Irva Hertz‐picciotto |
| GIVEN NAMES | Irva |
| FAMILY NAME | Hertz‐picciotto |
| SIGNATURE | PICCIOTTO I H |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of California, Davis |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-6952-2390 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 22 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 85 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 22 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1994 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Pet Flea and Tick Control Exposure During Pregnancy and Early Life Associated with Decreased Cognitive and Adaptive Behaviors in Children with Developmental Delay and Autism Spectrum Disorder
Approximately 18% of U.S. children experience cognitive and behavioral challenges, with both genetic and environmental contributors. We examined if household insecticides, particularly those used in and around the home and on pets, are associated with neurodevelopmental changes. Data were from children aged 24-60 months in the CHARGE study with the following classifications: autism spectrum disorder (ASD, n = 810), developmental delay (DD, n = 19…
Wildfire-specific fine particulate matter and preterm birth: A US Echo Cohort analysis
Do small effects matter more in vulnerable populations? an investigation using Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (Echo) cohorts
Vulnerable sub-populations with greater baseline percentages at high risk fare worse when exposed to a small insult compared to the general population. This illustrates another facet of health disparity in vulnerable individuals
Selecting External Controls for Internal Cases Using Stratification Score Matching Methods
Rare-disease registries can be useful for studying the associations between environmental exposures and disease severity, but often require the addition of a healthy comparison control group. Defining a surrogate control group, matched and balanced on potentially confounding variables, would allow for the comparison of exposure distributions with cases from a registry. In the present study, we assess whether controls selected externally, using st…
Gestational Exposure to Phthalates and Social Responsiveness Scores in Children Using Quantile Regression: The Earli and Home Studies
Linear regression is often used to estimate associations between chemical exposures and neurodevelopment at the mean of the outcome. However, the potential effect of chemicals may be greater among individuals at the 'tails' of outcome distributions. Here, we investigated distributional effects on the associations between gestational phthalate exposure and child Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)-related behaviors using quantile regression. We harmoni…
Association Between Plasma Metabolites and Psychometric Scores Among Children With Developmental Disabilities: Investigating Sex-Differences
Background: Developmental disabilities are defined by delays in learning, language, and behavior, yet growing evidence has revealed disturbances in metabolic systems that may also be present. Little is known about whether these metabolic issues contribute to the symptoms or severity of these disabilities, or whether sex plays a role in these associations, given that boys are disproportionately affected by some developmental disabilities. Here we …
Prenatal Multivitamin Use and MTHFR Genotype Are Associated with Newborn Cord Blood DNA Methylation
We observed that cord blood DNA methylation was associated with maternal supplement exposure preconception and maternal genotype. Genetic context should be considered when assessing DNA methylation effects of modifiable risk factors around the time of pregnancy
Healthy Air, Healthy Brains: Advancing Air Pollution Policy to Protect Children’s Health
Evidence is growing on the adverse neurodevelopmental effects of exposure to combustion-related air pollution. Project TENDR (Targeting Environmental Neurodevelopmental Risks), a unique collaboration of leading scientists, health professionals, and children’s and environmental health advocates, has identified combustion-related air pollutants as critical targets for action to protect healthy brain development. We present policy recommendations fo…
Pooling Bio-Specimens in the Presence of Measurement Error and Non-Linearity in Dose-Response: Simulation Study in the Context of a Birth Cohort Investigating Risk Factors for Autism Spectrum Disorder…
We sought to determine the potential effects of pooling on power, false positive rate (FPR), and bias of the estimated associations between hypothetical environmental exposures and dichotomous autism spectrum disorders (ASD) status. Simulated birth cohorts in which ASD outcome was assumed to have been ascertained with uncertainty were created. We investigated the impact on the power of the analysis (using logistic regression) to detect true assoc…
Maternal Recall Versus Medical Records of Metabolic Conditions from the Prenatal Period: A Validation Study
Quantifying the potential impact of measurement error in an investigation of autism spectrum disorder (ASD)
The Early Autism Risk Longitudinal Investigation (EARLI), an ongoing study of a risk-enriched pregnancy cohort, examines genetic and environmental risk factors for autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). We simulated the potential effects of both measurement error (ME) in exposures and misclassification of ASD-related phenotype (assessed as Autism Observation Scale for Infants (AOSI) scores) on measures of association generated under this study design.…
Residential Pesticide Usage in Older Adults Residing in Central California
Information on residential pesticide usage and behaviors that may influence pesticide exposure was collected in three population-based studies of older adults residing in the three Central California counties of Fresno, Kern, and Tulare. We present data from participants in the Study of Use of Products and Exposure Related Behaviors (SUPERB) study (N = 153) and from community controls ascertained in two Parkinson's disease studies, the Parkinson'…
Associations of Abdominal Fat With Perceived Racism and Passive Emotional Responses to Racism in African American Women
Findings support an association between daily stress and WHR but do not support our hypothesis that passive emotional responses to perceived racism increase abdominal fat. Further study of the stress physiology of perceived racism in African American women is warranted
Child care and social support modify the association between maternal depressive symptoms and early childhood behaviour problems: A US national study
Objective: To investigate the presence and patterns of modification effects of the sex of the child, social support, and childcare on the relation between maternal depressive symptoms and child behaviour problems at two developmental stages. Design: Analyses are based on prospective longitudinal data from the study of early child care. Participants: A total of 1216 families were drawn from 10 locations across the USA. Mothers were age 18 or older…
Psychosocial Factors and Preterm Birth Among African American and White Women in Central North Carolina
Objectives. We assessed associations between psychosocial factors and preterm birth, stratified by race in a prospective cohort study. Methods. We surveyed 1898 women who used university and public health prenatal clinics regarding various psychosocial factors. Results. African Americans were at higher risk of preterm birth if they used distancing from problems as a coping mechanism or reported racial discrimination. Whites were at higher risk if…
A spatial analysis of county-level variation in hospitalization rates for low back problems in North Carolina
When to be Skeptical of Negative Studies: Pitfalls in Evaluating Occupational Risks Using Populationbased Case-control Studies
Racial Differences in Survival of Oral and Pharyngeal Cancer Patients in North Carolina
In the first 18 months after diagnosis, blacks with oral and pharyngeal cancer have higher all-cause mortality than whites diagnosed at the same stage of disease. Racial differences are greater among those with localized disease than for those with more advanced conditions
Infant mortality differences between whites and African Americans: The effect of maternal education
OBJECTIVES: Despite decreasing infant mortality in North Carolina, the gap between African Americans and Whites persists. This study examined how racial differences in infant mortality vary by maternal education. METHODS: Data came from Linked Birth and Infant Death files for 1988 through 1993. Multiple logistic regression models adjusted for confounders. RESULTS: Infant mortality risk ratios comparing African Americans and Whites increased with …
HIV test-seeking before and after the restriction of anonymous testing in North Carolina
OBJECTIVES: This study assessed the impact on HIV test-seeking of North Carolina's restriction of anonymous testing to 18 of its 100 counties as of September 1, 1991. METHODS: Trends from 4 months prerestriction to the 16-month restriction period in counties retaining vs counties eliminating anonymous testing were compared. RESULTS: HIV testing increased throughout the state, but more rapidly where anonymous testing was retained than elsewhere: 6…
Epidemiology and quantitative risk assessment: A bridge from science to policy
Quantitative risk assessment provides formalized scientific input to regulatory agencies that set occupational and environmental standards for potentially toxic exposures. Current practice relies heavily on statistical extrapolation from high-dose animal studies. Human data obviate the need for interspecies extrapolation and reduce the range of high-to-low dose extrapolation. This paper proposes a framework for classifying individual epidemiologi…
The risk of pregnancy-induced hypertension: Black and white differences in a military population
The relationship between race and risk of pregnancy-induced hypertension was investigated in a cohort of active-duty military women who gave birth during the period 1987 through 1989. Cases were identified through hospital discharge diagnoses and included transient gestational hypertension, pre-eclampsia, eclampsia, and unspecified hypertension complicating pregnancy. Multivariate analysis showed nulliparous Black women to be at a slightly increa…
Associations of Abdominal Fat With Perceived Racism and Passive Emotional Responses to Racism in African American Women
Findings support an association between daily stress and WHR but do not support our hypothesis that passive emotional responses to perceived racism increase abdominal fat. Further study of the stress physiology of perceived racism in African American women is warranted
Psychosocial Factors and Preterm Birth Among African American and White Women in Central North Carolina
Objectives. We assessed associations between psychosocial factors and preterm birth, stratified by race in a prospective cohort study. Methods. We surveyed 1898 women who used university and public health prenatal clinics regarding various psychosocial factors. Results. African Americans were at higher risk of preterm birth if they used distancing from problems as a coping mechanism or reported racial discrimination. Whites were at higher risk if…
Infant mortality differences between whites and African Americans: The effect of maternal education
OBJECTIVES: Despite decreasing infant mortality in North Carolina, the gap between African Americans and Whites persists. This study examined how racial differences in infant mortality vary by maternal education. METHODS: Data came from Linked Birth and Infant Death files for 1988 through 1993. Multiple logistic regression models adjusted for confounders. RESULTS: Infant mortality risk ratios comparing African Americans and Whites increased with …
A spatial analysis of county-level variation in hospitalization rates for low back problems in North Carolina
HIV test-seeking before and after the restriction of anonymous testing in North Carolina
OBJECTIVES: This study assessed the impact on HIV test-seeking of North Carolina's restriction of anonymous testing to 18 of its 100 counties as of September 1, 1991. METHODS: Trends from 4 months prerestriction to the 16-month restriction period in counties retaining vs counties eliminating anonymous testing were compared. RESULTS: HIV testing increased throughout the state, but more rapidly where anonymous testing was retained than elsewhere: 6…
Epidemiology and quantitative risk assessment: A bridge from science to policy
Quantitative risk assessment provides formalized scientific input to regulatory agencies that set occupational and environmental standards for potentially toxic exposures. Current practice relies heavily on statistical extrapolation from high-dose animal studies. Human data obviate the need for interspecies extrapolation and reduce the range of high-to-low dose extrapolation. This paper proposes a framework for classifying individual epidemiologi…
Child care and social support modify the association between maternal depressive symptoms and early childhood behaviour problems: A US national study
Objective: To investigate the presence and patterns of modification effects of the sex of the child, social support, and childcare on the relation between maternal depressive symptoms and child behaviour problems at two developmental stages. Design: Analyses are based on prospective longitudinal data from the study of early child care. Participants: A total of 1216 families were drawn from 10 locations across the USA. Mothers were age 18 or older…
Healthy Air, Healthy Brains: Advancing Air Pollution Policy to Protect Children’s Health
Evidence is growing on the adverse neurodevelopmental effects of exposure to combustion-related air pollution. Project TENDR (Targeting Environmental Neurodevelopmental Risks), a unique collaboration of leading scientists, health professionals, and children’s and environmental health advocates, has identified combustion-related air pollutants as critical targets for action to protect healthy brain development. We present policy recommendations fo…
The risk of pregnancy-induced hypertension: Black and white differences in a military population
The relationship between race and risk of pregnancy-induced hypertension was investigated in a cohort of active-duty military women who gave birth during the period 1987 through 1989. Cases were identified through hospital discharge diagnoses and included transient gestational hypertension, pre-eclampsia, eclampsia, and unspecified hypertension complicating pregnancy. Multivariate analysis showed nulliparous Black women to be at a slightly increa…
Epidemiology and quantitative risk assessment: A bridge from science to policy
Quantitative risk assessment provides formalized scientific input to regulatory agencies that set occupational and environmental standards for potentially toxic exposures. Current practice relies heavily on statistical extrapolation from high-dose animal studies. Human data obviate the need for interspecies extrapolation and reduce the range of high-to-low dose extrapolation. This paper proposes a framework for classifying individual epidemiologi…
HIV test-seeking before and after the restriction of anonymous testing in North Carolina
OBJECTIVES: This study assessed the impact on HIV test-seeking of North Carolina's restriction of anonymous testing to 18 of its 100 counties as of September 1, 1991. METHODS: Trends from 4 months prerestriction to the 16-month restriction period in counties retaining vs counties eliminating anonymous testing were compared. RESULTS: HIV testing increased throughout the state, but more rapidly where anonymous testing was retained than elsewhere: 6…
Racial Differences in Survival of Oral and Pharyngeal Cancer Patients in North Carolina
In the first 18 months after diagnosis, blacks with oral and pharyngeal cancer have higher all-cause mortality than whites diagnosed at the same stage of disease. Racial differences are greater among those with localized disease than for those with more advanced conditions
Infant mortality differences between whites and African Americans: The effect of maternal education
OBJECTIVES: Despite decreasing infant mortality in North Carolina, the gap between African Americans and Whites persists. This study examined how racial differences in infant mortality vary by maternal education. METHODS: Data came from Linked Birth and Infant Death files for 1988 through 1993. Multiple logistic regression models adjusted for confounders. RESULTS: Infant mortality risk ratios comparing African Americans and Whites increased with …
When to be Skeptical of Negative Studies: Pitfalls in Evaluating Occupational Risks Using Populationbased Case-control Studies
A spatial analysis of county-level variation in hospitalization rates for low back problems in North Carolina
Psychosocial Factors and Preterm Birth Among African American and White Women in Central North Carolina
Objectives. We assessed associations between psychosocial factors and preterm birth, stratified by race in a prospective cohort study. Methods. We surveyed 1898 women who used university and public health prenatal clinics regarding various psychosocial factors. Results. African Americans were at higher risk of preterm birth if they used distancing from problems as a coping mechanism or reported racial discrimination. Whites were at higher risk if…
Child care and social support modify the association between maternal depressive symptoms and early childhood behaviour problems: A US national study
Objective: To investigate the presence and patterns of modification effects of the sex of the child, social support, and childcare on the relation between maternal depressive symptoms and child behaviour problems at two developmental stages. Design: Analyses are based on prospective longitudinal data from the study of early child care. Participants: A total of 1216 families were drawn from 10 locations across the USA. Mothers were age 18 or older…
Associations of Abdominal Fat With Perceived Racism and Passive Emotional Responses to Racism in African American Women
Findings support an association between daily stress and WHR but do not support our hypothesis that passive emotional responses to perceived racism increase abdominal fat. Further study of the stress physiology of perceived racism in African American women is warranted
Residential Pesticide Usage in Older Adults Residing in Central California
Information on residential pesticide usage and behaviors that may influence pesticide exposure was collected in three population-based studies of older adults residing in the three Central California counties of Fresno, Kern, and Tulare. We present data from participants in the Study of Use of Products and Exposure Related Behaviors (SUPERB) study (N = 153) and from community controls ascertained in two Parkinson's disease studies, the Parkinson'…
Quantifying the potential impact of measurement error in an investigation of autism spectrum disorder (ASD)
The Early Autism Risk Longitudinal Investigation (EARLI), an ongoing study of a risk-enriched pregnancy cohort, examines genetic and environmental risk factors for autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). We simulated the potential effects of both measurement error (ME) in exposures and misclassification of ASD-related phenotype (assessed as Autism Observation Scale for Infants (AOSI) scores) on measures of association generated under this study design.…
Pooling Bio-Specimens in the Presence of Measurement Error and Non-Linearity in Dose-Response: Simulation Study in the Context of a Birth Cohort Investigating Risk Factors for Autism Spectrum Disorder…
We sought to determine the potential effects of pooling on power, false positive rate (FPR), and bias of the estimated associations between hypothetical environmental exposures and dichotomous autism spectrum disorders (ASD) status. Simulated birth cohorts in which ASD outcome was assumed to have been ascertained with uncertainty were created. We investigated the impact on the power of the analysis (using logistic regression) to detect true assoc…
Maternal Recall Versus Medical Records of Metabolic Conditions from the Prenatal Period: A Validation Study
Healthy Air, Healthy Brains: Advancing Air Pollution Policy to Protect Children’s Health
Evidence is growing on the adverse neurodevelopmental effects of exposure to combustion-related air pollution. Project TENDR (Targeting Environmental Neurodevelopmental Risks), a unique collaboration of leading scientists, health professionals, and children’s and environmental health advocates, has identified combustion-related air pollutants as critical targets for action to protect healthy brain development. We present policy recommendations fo…
Association Between Plasma Metabolites and Psychometric Scores Among Children With Developmental Disabilities: Investigating Sex-Differences
Background: Developmental disabilities are defined by delays in learning, language, and behavior, yet growing evidence has revealed disturbances in metabolic systems that may also be present. Little is known about whether these metabolic issues contribute to the symptoms or severity of these disabilities, or whether sex plays a role in these associations, given that boys are disproportionately affected by some developmental disabilities. Here we …
Prenatal Multivitamin Use and MTHFR Genotype Are Associated with Newborn Cord Blood DNA Methylation
We observed that cord blood DNA methylation was associated with maternal supplement exposure preconception and maternal genotype. Genetic context should be considered when assessing DNA methylation effects of modifiable risk factors around the time of pregnancy
Gestational Exposure to Phthalates and Social Responsiveness Scores in Children Using Quantile Regression: The Earli and Home Studies
Linear regression is often used to estimate associations between chemical exposures and neurodevelopment at the mean of the outcome. However, the potential effect of chemicals may be greater among individuals at the 'tails' of outcome distributions. Here, we investigated distributional effects on the associations between gestational phthalate exposure and child Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)-related behaviors using quantile regression. We harmoni…
Selecting External Controls for Internal Cases Using Stratification Score Matching Methods
Rare-disease registries can be useful for studying the associations between environmental exposures and disease severity, but often require the addition of a healthy comparison control group. Defining a surrogate control group, matched and balanced on potentially confounding variables, would allow for the comparison of exposure distributions with cases from a registry. In the present study, we assess whether controls selected externally, using st…
Do small effects matter more in vulnerable populations? an investigation using Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (Echo) cohorts
Vulnerable sub-populations with greater baseline percentages at high risk fare worse when exposed to a small insult compared to the general population. This illustrates another facet of health disparity in vulnerable individuals
Pet Flea and Tick Control Exposure During Pregnancy and Early Life Associated with Decreased Cognitive and Adaptive Behaviors in Children with Developmental Delay and Autism Spectrum Disorder
Approximately 18% of U.S. children experience cognitive and behavioral challenges, with both genetic and environmental contributors. We examined if household insecticides, particularly those used in and around the home and on pets, are associated with neurodevelopmental changes. Data were from children aged 24-60 months in the CHARGE study with the following classifications: autism spectrum disorder (ASD, n = 810), developmental delay (DD, n = 19…
Wildfire-specific fine particulate matter and preterm birth: A US Echo Cohort analysis
Medicine (21 works) · Environmental health (11 works) · Internal Medicine (10 works) · Population (8 works) · Biology (7 works) · Demography (7 works) · Psychiatry (7 works) · Autism (6 works) · Statistics (6 works) · Gerontology (5 works)