Air Pollution and Children’s Health

Here are two articles regarding the effects of air pollution on the health of children. It’s very evident that all that can be done must be done to reduce air pollution!

Please follow the links provided to read the original articles.

Air Pollution and Children's Health

High air pollution exposure in one-year-olds linked to structural brain changes at age 12
by Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-01-high-air-pollution-exposure-one-year-olds.html

“A new study suggests that significant early childhood exposure to traffic-related air pollution (TRAP) is associated with structural changes in the brain at the age of 12.

The Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center study found that children with higher levels of TRAP exposure at birth had reductions at age 12 in gray matter volume and cortical thickness as compared to children with lower levels of exposure.

“The results of this study, though exploratory, suggest that where you live and the air you breathe can affect how your brain develops, says Travis Beckwith, Ph.D., a research fellow at Cincinnati Children’s and lead author of the study. “While the percentage of loss is far less than what might be seen in a degenerative disease state, this loss may be enough to influence the development of various physical and mental processes.”

Gray matter includes regions of the brain involved in motor control as well as sensory perception, such as seeing and hearing. Cortical thickness reflects the outer gray matter depth. The study found that specific regions in the frontal and parietal lobes and the cerebellum were affected with decreases on the order of 3 to 4 percent.

“If early life TRAP exposure irreversibly harms brain development, structural consequences could persist regardless of the time point for a subsequent examination,” says Dr. Beckwith.

The researchers on the study, which is published online in PLOS One, used magnetic resonance imaging to obtain anatomical brain images from 147 12 year olds. These children are a subset of the Cincinnati Childhood Allergy and Air Pollution Study (CCAAPS), which recruited volunteers prior to the age of six months to examine early childhood exposure to TRAP and health outcomes.

The volunteers in the CCAAPS had either high or low levels of TRAP exposure during their first year of life. The researchers estimated exposure using an air sampling network of 27 sites in the Cincinnati area, and 24/7 sampling was conducted simultaneously at four or five sites over different seasons. Participating children and their caregivers completed clinic visits at ages 1, 2, 3, 4, 7 and 12.

Previous studies of TRAP suggest that it contributes to neurodegenerative diseases and neurodevelopmental disorders. This work supports that TRAP changes brain structure early in life.”

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https://medicalxpress.com/news/2019-09-link-air-pollution-mental-health.html

Studies link air pollution to mental health issues in children
by Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center

“Three new studies by scientists at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, in collaboration with researchers at the University of Cincinnati, highlight the relationship between air pollution and mental health in children.

A study to be published Sept. 25 in Environmental Health Perspectives found that short-term exposure to ambient air pollution was associated with exacerbations of psychiatric disorders in children one to two days later, as marked by increased utilization of the Cincinnati Children’s emergency department for psychiatric issues. The study also found that children living in disadvantaged neighborhoods may be more susceptible to the effects of air pollution compared to other children, especially for disorders related to anxiety and suicidality.

The lead authors of this study are Cole Brokamp, Ph.D., and Patrick Ryan, Ph.D. They are researchers in the division of Biostatistics and Epidemiology at Cincinnati Children’s.

“This study is the first to show an association between daily outdoor air pollution levels and increased symptoms of psychiatric disorders, like anxiety and suicidality, in children,” says Dr. Brokamp. “More research is needed to confirm these findings, but it could lead to new prevention strategies for children experiencing symptoms related to a psychiatric disorder. The fact that children living in high poverty neighborhoods experienced greater health effects of air pollution could mean that pollutant and neighborhood stressors can have synergistic effects on psychiatric symptom severity and frequency.”

Two other Cincinnati Children’s studies were recently published that also link air pollution to children’s mental health:

A study published in Environmental Research found an association between recent high traffic related air pollution (TRAP) exposure and higher generalized anxiety. The study is believed to be the first to use neuroimaging to link TRAP exposure, metabolic disturbances in the brain, and generalized anxiety symptoms among otherwise healthy children. The study found higher myoinositol concentrations in the brain—a marker of the brain’s neuroinflammatory response to TRAP.
The lead authors of this study are Kelly Brunst, Ph.D., a researcher in the department of Environmental Health at the University of Cincinnati, and Kim Cecil, Ph.D., a researcher at Cincinnati Children’s.
A study published in Environmental Research found that exposure to TRAP during early life and across childhood was significantly associated with self-reported depression and anxiety symptoms in 12 year olds. Similar findings have been reported in adults, but research showing clear connections between TRAP exposure and mental health in children has been limited.
The lead authors of the study are Kimberly Yolton, Ph.D., director of research in the division of General and Community Pediatrics at Cincinnati Children’s, and Dr. Ryan.

“Collectively, these studies contribute to the growing body of evidence that exposure to air pollution during early life and childhood may contribute to depression, anxiety, and other mental health problems in adolescence,” says Dr. Ryan. “More research is needed to replicate these findings and uncover underlying mechanisms for these associations.””

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