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Complexities of sibling analysis when exposures and outcomes change with time and birth order

Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology volume 24, pages 482–488 (2014)Cite this article

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Abstract

In this study, we demonstrate the complexities of performing a sibling analysis with a re-examination of associations between cell phone exposures and behavioral problems observed previously in the Danish National Birth Cohort. Children (52,680; including 5441 siblings) followed up to age 7 were included. We examined differences in exposures and behavioral problems between siblings and non-siblings and by birth order and birth year. We estimated associations between cell phone exposures and behavioral problems while accounting for the random family effect among siblings. The association of behavioral problems with both prenatal and postnatal exposure differed between siblings (odds ratio (OR): 1.07; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.69–1.66) and non-siblings (OR: 1.54; 95% CI: 1.36–1.74) and within siblings by birth order; the association was strongest for first-born siblings (OR: 1.72; 95% CI: 0.86–3.42) and negative for later-born siblings (OR: 0.63; 95% CI: 0.31–1.25), which may be because of increases in cell phone use with later birth year. Sibling analysis can be a powerful tool for (partially) accounting for confounding by invariant unmeasured within-family factors, but it cannot account for uncontrolled confounding by varying family-level factors, such as those that vary with time and birth order.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the coordinator of data collection Inge Kristine Meder, data analysts Inge Eisensee and Lone Fredslund Møller, and the participating mothers. This work was supported by the Lundbeck Foundation (Grant number 195/04); the Danish Medical Research Council (Grant number SSVF 0646); and the National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (Grant number R21ES016831); Vani career grant from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) to OAA (Grant number 916.96.059).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology, UCLA School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA

    Madhuri Sudan, Leeka I Kheifets & Onyebuchi A Arah

  2. Department of Public Health, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Onyebuchi A Arah

  3. HealthCore Inc., Andover, Massachusetts, USA

    Hozefa A Divan

  4. Institute of Public Health, University of Aarhus, Aarhus, Denmark

    Jørn Olsen

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  1. Madhuri Sudan
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Correspondence to Madhuri Sudan.

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Sudan, M., Kheifets, L., Arah, O. et al. Complexities of sibling analysis when exposures and outcomes change with time and birth order. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol 24, 482–488 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/jes.2013.56

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