Figure 1. Sex-specific associations between weekly prenatal PM_2.5 levels over gestation and full-scale IQ.

This figure demonstrates PM_2.5 exposure over pregnancy and full-scale IQ scores (WISC-IV) using distributed lag models assuming week-specific effects. Models were adjusted for maternal age, race, education, prenatal/postnatal maternal smoking, parity, and blood lead level at neurodevelopmental testing; child’s sex was adjusted in the model not stratified by sex. The y-axis represents the change in full-scale IQ percentile associated with a 10 μg/m³ increase in PM_2.5; the x- axis is gestational age in weeks. Lower IQ scores indicate less favorable functioning. Solid lines show the predicted change in the IQ percentile. Gray areas indicate 95% CIs. A sensitive window is identified for the weeks where the estimated pointwise 95% CI (shaded area) does not include zero.