Prenatal exposure to air pollution associated with poor academic skills in childhood

Posted on July 14, 2021 by Respro® UK Ltd

Children exposed to elevated levels of air pollution may be more likely to have poor inhibitory control during late childhood and poor academic skills in early adolescence, including spelling, reading comprehension, and math skills. Difficulty with inhibition in late childhood was found to be a precursor to later air pollution-related academic problems. Interventions that target inhibitory control might improve outcomes.

Results of the study by researchers at the Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health (CCCEH) at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and Columbia University Irving Medical Center are published in the journal Environmental Research.

“Children with poor inhibitory control are less able to override a common response in favor of a more unusual one–such as the natural response to say ‘up’ when an arrow is facing up or ‘go’ when a light is green–and instead say ‘down’ or ‘stop’. By compromising childhood inhibitory control, prenatal exposure to air pollution may alter the foundation upon which later academic skills are built.” Amy Margolis, PhD, first author, associate professor of medical psychology, Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University Irving Medical Center

“When evaluating student’s learning problems and formulating treatment plans, parents and teachers should consider that academic problems related to environmental exposures may require intervention focused on inhibitory control problems, rather than on content-related skill deficits, as is typical in interventions designed to address learning disabilities,” Margolis adds.

“This study adds to a growing body of literature showing the deleterious health effects of prenatal exposure to air pollution on child health outcomes, including academic achievement,” says co-author Julie Herbstman, PhD, CCCEH director and associate professor of environmental health sciences at Columbia Mailman School. “Reducing levels of air pollution may prevent these adverse outcomes and lead to improvements in children’s academic achievement.”

The new findings align with prior Columbia research finding a DNA marker for PAH exposure was associated with altered development of self-regulatory capacity and ADHD symptoms.

The study followed 200 children enrolled in a longitudinal cohort study in Northern Manhattan and the Bronx led by CCCEH researchers. Researchers collected measures of prenatal airborne polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH, a major component of air pollution) during the third trimester of pregnancy, a period when the fetus is highly vulnerable to environmental insults. Tests of inhibitory control were administered at or around age 10 and tests of academic achievement, at or around age 13.

Inhibitory control and learning

When students learn new concepts, they often need to override a previous habit in order to incorporate a new rule into a skill. For example, when learning to read a vowel a child will learn that the letter a has a short vowel sound “a as in apple” but a long sound when the consonant is followed by a “magic e,” as in “rate.”

Prenatal exposure to air pollution associated with poor academic skills in childhood
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Urban areas with high levels of air pollution may increase risk of childhood obesity

Posted on July 13, 2021 by Respro® UK Ltd

A study of more than 2,000 children in Sabadell (Barcelona, Spain) associates these three environmental factors with higher body mass index

Children living in urban areas with high levels of air pollution, noise and traffic may be at higher risk of childhood obesity, according to a study by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal)–a centre supported by the “la Caixa” Foundation–and the University Institute for Primary Care Research Jordi Gol (IDIAP Jordi Gol). The study was funded by the La Marató de TV3 Foundation.

Published in Environment International, the study analysed data on 2,213 children aged 9 to 12 years in the city of Sabadell (Barcelona) who were participating in the ECHOCAT and INMA projects. Forty percent of the children were overweight or obese. The researchers investigated the association between urban factors that the children were exposed to between October 2017 and January 2019 (ambient air pollution, green spaces, built environment, density of unhealthy food establishments, road traffic and road traffic noise) and various measures of childhood obesity (body mass index, waist circumference and body fat) and weight-related behaviours (fast food and sugar-sweetened beverage consumption, physical activity, sedentary behaviour, sleep duration and well-being).

To date, few studies have assessed whether the urban environment influences children’s behaviours in order to better understand the relationship between this environment and the risk of childhood obesity. An understanding of the mechanisms of this relationship will facilitate the development of community-level health promotion programmes to encourage healthier behaviours in the city. Another novel aspect of this study is that it assessed multiple urban exposures together, in accordance with the concept of exposome or the study of multiple simultaneous environmental factors.

Possible Mechanisms

“Higher levels of air pollution, traffic and noise were associated with higher body mass index and a higher likelihood of the child being overweight or obese,” explained lead author Jeroen de Bont, a researcher at ISGlobal and IDIAP Jordi Gol. Although the mechanisms that could explain this association remain unknown, the scientific team proposed various hypotheses. Air pollution could disrupt the molecular mechanisms that cause obesity by inducing inflammation or oxidative stress, hormone disruption and visceral adiposity (although the studies published to date have been performed in mice). Noise could influence sleep deprivation and increase stress hormones, which are associated with physical development in childhood and could increase the risk of becoming overweight.

The findings were consistent with those obtained in the same study when some environmental exposures were analysed separately. In particular, the number of unhealthy food establishments in an area was also found to be associated with childhood obesity, probably because such an environment may favour higher fast food consumption and higher caloric intake.

The study did not, however, find an association between the urban environment and the level of physical activity, sedentary behaviour and other weight-related behaviours in children, although it is thought that such factors could play a role. (For example, in areas with a good public transport network and nearby facilities and shops, journeys tend to be made on foot or by bicycle, which increases children’s physical activity.) The fact that the study did not find an association between these factors could be attributed to “the difficulty of determining to what extent obesity itself influences weight-related behaviours,” explained de Bont. Moreover, information on children’s physical activity was collected using a questionnaire that did not take into account where the activities took place. “We were able to find out if the children played basketball or football, but not if they cycled in nearby green spaces, for example,” he added.

Finally, “socioeconomic status plays an important role in the association between the urban environment and childhood obesity that is not yet clear,” commented last author Martine Vrijheid, a researcher at ISGlobal. In this study, children living in more deprived areas on the outskirts of the city had higher rates of overweight and obesity even though they were exposed to lower levels of air pollution, road traffic and noise and had access to more green spaces. Further research is needed to shed light on this issue.

Urban areas with high levels of air pollution may increase risk of childhood obesity | EurekAlert! Science News
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Pollution in 8 cities rose at alarming rate from April 2020 to April 2021: Greenpeace report

Posted on July 9, 2021 by Respro® UK Ltd

According Greenpeace India, the level of Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) has increased in eight of the most populous Indian cities that were covered under their satellite observation for the study. 

This study was a direct comparison of NO2 levels of April 2020 and April 2021, thus juxtaposing the total lockdown month with a partial normalcy month. NO2 is a dangerous air pollutant that is released via vehicle emissions, power generation, and industrial processes.

The satellite observations of NO2 analyzed in this study are monthly averages of measurements made by the Tropomi sensor on board the Sentinel-5P satellite, which has been operating since February 2018.

Their data claims that NO2 pollution in Chennai increased by 94% in a direct comparison between April 2020 and April 2021. The weather had only little contribution to this change. Whereas, in Delhi, NO2 was higher by 125%, in Mumbai, 52% higher, Hyderabad by 69%, Bengaluru by 90%, Kolkata by 11%, Jaipur by 47% and Lucknow by 32% in April 2021, than in the same month of the previous year.

Specifically on North Chennai (Manali station), their data says that (in 2019) the region recorded unacceptable pollution levels for 119 days. It also states that while emissions from 38 red category industries including thermal power plants, petro-chemical industries, ports are the reason for North Chennai’s pollution, vehicular pollution contributes more to Central and South Chennai’s woes.

Prabhakaran Veeraarasu, Environmental Engineer, from the NGO Poovulagin Nanbargal said that Chennai’s data was a stark reminder to have a demographic, sectoral approach to address Chennai’s pollution. “Shifting towards decentralised renewable energy, developing public transport infrastructure, encouraging non-motor transport and ensuring last mile connectivity can be our targets to reduce vehicular pollution in Chennai” he added.

The report infers that India’s cities witnessing clean air in April 2020 (during the Lockdown) was an unintended consequence, that led to people breathing clean air and seeing clear skies. It suggests that the disruption caused by the pandemic is a case to transition to cleaner, equitable and sustainable decentralised energy sources such as rooftop solar and clean and sustainable mobility must be central to recovery efforts across cities. “The recovery from the pandemic must not come at the expense of a return to previous levels of air pollution,” said Avinash Chanchal, Senior Climate Campaigner, Greenpeace India.

He added that fossil-fuel dependent private vehicles and industries are the major contributors of NO2 pollution, thus urging Governments to initiate the transition from privately owned vehicles to an efficient, clean and safe public transport system that is run on clean energy, follows Covid-19 safety protocols.

Pollution in 8 cities rose at alarming rate from April 2020 to April 2021: Greenpeace report | India News | Zee News
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Reduced traffic during lockdown did not improve air quality in urban areas as much as expected

Posted on July 8, 2021 by Respro® UK Ltd

Two studies led by María Morales Suárez Varela, group leader of the CIBERESP at the University of Valencia and professor of the Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health at the academic institution, have evaluated the impact of mobility restrictions on air quality and polluting emissions, in Valencia and in three Italian cities. “The lockdown measures improved air quality in urban areas, but not as much as expected given the alleged contribution of traffic to ambient air pollution,” explains Morales. “The restrictive mobility measures to limit the spread of COVID-19 provided a unique opportunity to improve our understanding of the impact of mobility on air pollution in urban areas.”

In the first study, published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, the research team studied whether there were significant differences in the concentration levels of suspended particles (PM10, PM2.5, NOx, NO2, NO and O3) between the restrictions period in 2020 and the same period in 2019. The findings showed that the lockdown measures were accompanied by a significant decrease in particle concentrations, even if there was variability in various areas of the city.

María Morales says, “The greatest reductions in the levels of PM10 and PM2.5 were observed for the Center of València, València Avenida de Francia and València Pista de Silla (all of the urban traffic type)”. These solid or liquid particles of dust, ash, soot, metallic particles, cement or pollen, dispersed in the atmosphere (with a diameter between 10 and 2.5 micrometers (µm), one thousandth of a millimeter), are the most important in urban pollution as they can penetrate deep into the lungs and therefore pose significant potential health risks.

Furthermore, she adds, “there was a statistically significant decrease in NOx, NO2 and NO concentrations at the seven air monitoring stations, as well as O3 levels during the blocking period.” In this case, it is a group of gases composed of nitric oxide (NO), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), their combination (NOx) and ozone (O3) that are corrosive to the skin and the respiratory tract. Prolonged exposure considerably reduces lung function, inflames the airways, and can potentially cause irreversible changes in lung tissue. In addition, it can affect the immune system and lead to less resistance to respiratory infections.

The other study evaluated the effects of the emissions that decreased during the COVID-19 period on air quality in three Italian cities, Florence, Pisa and Lucca, comparing the concentrations of PM10, PM2.5, NO2 and O3. “In this case we did not find significant reductions in the levels of suspended particles during the blocking period, except at a monitoring station in a high traffic area, which is considered a hot spot due to the consistently high levels recorded all over Tuscany,” the authors explain.

On the other hand, the work reveals that the reduction in NO2 pollution levels, consistent with other studies, was statistically significant in all air monitoring stations in the cities used in this study, which shows a relevant relationship with the traffic volume. Finally, for the levels of O3 pollutants, the researchers did not observe a significant reduction during the blocking period.

“The lockdown measures improved air quality in urban areas, but not as much as expected given the alleged contribution of traffic to ambient air pollution. It must be considered, by the authorities, that the environmental response varies according to the dominant source of emission and the specific meteorological conditions, so it would be necessary to adopt holistic control measures to improve air quality in urban environments,” adds Morales. “We believe that our results must be taken into account by policy makers to implement effective policies to counteract air pollution and place human health at the center of urban planning.”

Exposure to ambient air pollution is one of the greatest health risks worldwide. It is estimated to be responsible for around 4.2 million deaths worldwide each year due to many diseases such as heart disease, stroke, acute and chronic respiratory diseases and lung cancer.

Reduced traffic during lockdown did not improve air quality in urban areas as much as expected
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Study is first to show that air pollutants increase risk of painful periods for women

Posted on July 7, 2021 by Respro® UK Ltd

Dysmenorrhea, that is, frequent severe and painful cramps during menstruation from abnormal contractions of the uterus, is the most common of all gynecological disorders. It affects between 16-91% of girls and women of reproductive age, of whom 2%-29% have symptoms severe enough to restrict their daily activity. Now, for the first time, researchers from China Medical University Hospital in Taiwan have shown that long-term exposure to air pollutants such as nitrogen and carbon oxides and fine particulate matter greatly raises the risk of developing dysmenorrhea. Based on long-term data on air quality and public health from national databases, they show that the risk to develop dysmenorrhea over a period of 13 years (2000-2013) was up to 33 times higher among Taiwanese women and girls who lived in areas with the highest levels of air pollutants compared to their peers exposed to lower levels of pollutants. These results were recently published in the open access journal Frontiers in Public Health.

A common debilitating disorder with no known cure

Dysmenorrhea can be due to hormonal imbalances or to underlying gynecological conditions such as endometriosis, pelvic inflammatory disease, ectopic pregnancy, or tumors in the pelvic cavity. Symptoms are often life-long: they include cramps and pain in the lower abdomen, pain in the lower back and legs, nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, fainting, weakness, fatigue, and headaches. In addition to reducing quality of life, dysmenorrhea also has a major socioeconomic impact, as females with dysmenorrhea may be temporarily unable to work, attend school, or engage in leisure activities. Dysmenorrhea has no known cure, but its symptoms may be managed with anti-inflammatory drugs and hormonal contraceptives.

“Research has already shown that women who smoke or drink alcohol during their periods, or who are overweight, or have their first period very young, run a greater risk of dysmenorrhea. Women who have never been pregnant are likewise known to be at greater risk. But here we demonstrate for the first time another important risk factor for developing dysmenorrhea: air quality, in particular long-term exposure to pollution. We don’t yet know the underlying mechanism, but emotional stress in women exposed to air pollutants, or higher average levels of the hormone-like prostaglandins in their body, might be part of the answer,” says one of the authors, Prof Chung Y. Hsu at the College of Medicine, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan.

The authors, led by Prof Chia-Hung Kao, the Director of the department of nuclear medicine and the Center for Positron Emission Tomography (PET) at China Medical University, studied de-identified health measures from a total of 296,078 women and girls (approximately 1.3% of the total population) between 16-55 years old. These data came from Taiwan’s Longitudinal Health Insurance Database starting 2000 (LHID 2000), a representative subsample from Taiwan’s nation-wide health insurance database.

The study sample exclusively included women and girls without any recorded history of dysmenorrhea before 2000. The authors looked for a long-term association between the risk of dysmenorrhea and air quality, in particular the mean exposure over the years to air pollutants – nitrogen oxide (NOx), nitric oxide (NO), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), carbon monoxide (CO), and particles smaller than 2.5 μm in diameter (‘PM2.5’) – obtained from the ‘Taiwan Air Quality Monitoring Database’ (TAQMD) of the Environmental Protection Agency.

Air pollutants are an important new risk factor

They found that from 2000- to 2013, 4.2% of women and girls in the studied sample were diagnosed with dysmenorrhea for the first time. As was expected from previous studies, younger women, women of lower incomes, and living in more urbanized areas tended to have a higher risk of developing dysmenorrhea over the study period. But importantly, the ‘hazard ratio’ (that is, the age- and year-specific risk) of developing dysmenorrhea increased by 16.7 to 33.1 fold for women and girls from the 25% of areas with the highest yearly exposure to air pollutants, compared to those from the 25% of areas with the lowest exposure. NOx, NO, NO2, CO, and PM2.5 levels each contributed separately to the increased risk, but the greatest individual effect was from long-term exposure to high PM2.5.

“Our results study demonstrate the major impact of the quality of air on human health in general, here specifically on the risk of dysmenorrhea in women and girls. This is a clear illustration of the need to for actions by governmental agencies and citizens to reduce air pollution, in order to improve human health,” concludes Prof Hsu.

Study is first to show that air pollutants increase risk of painful periods for women | EurekAlert! Science News
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Air pollution ‘may affect the health of your baby’

Posted on July 6, 2021 by Respro® UK Ltd

Air pollution can affect the development of unborn babies in the womb.

Air pollution affects the thyroid, according to scientists from the UPV/EHU-University of the Basque Country, as small particles like nitrogen dioxide and carbon can impact the levels of thyroxine, a key thyroid hormone.

Thyroid hormones are essential for regulating foetal growth and metabolism, and play an important role in neurological development.

“In this work, we specifically analysed the effect of maternal exposure to these fine particles and to nitrogen dioxide during pregnancy and the link existing with thyroxine levels in newborn babies,” explained Amaia Irizar-Loibide, a researcher in the UPV/EHU’s Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health.

“We have been monitoring on a weekly basis, as the development of the foetus varies greatly from one week to the next. So, we tried to conduct the most detailed research possible in order to find out which the most sensitive weeks of pregnancy are.”

Strangely, the scientists found that air pollution affects thyroxine in different ways at different stages of pregnancy – with it lowering levels in the early stages, but raising it later when carrying a baby.

“The results obtained in this study have revealed the direct relationship between exposure to fine particles during pregnancy and the level of thyroxine in newborns,” Irizar-Loibide stated. “However, we have not observed a clear link with exposure to nitrogen dioxide.

“What we have seen in this work is that exposure during the first months of pregnancy has a direct influence on the balance of thyroid hormones. These babies tend to have a lower level of thyroxine.

“As the pregnancy progresses, we found that this relationship gradually diminishes, i.e. the mother’s exposure gradually becomes less important.

“In late pregnancy, however, this link becomes apparent again, but displays an opposite effect: as the concentration of these fine particles increases, we have seen that the level of thyroid hormones also increases, which has the opposite effect on the balance.”

As the UPV/EHU team are unclear as to the biological mechanism behind these changes, they now want to conduct further research into the topic.

“We need to continue to investigate whether exposure during pregnancy affects not only thyroid hormones, but also other aspects such as neuropsychological development, growth, obesity, etc.,” Irizar-Lobide added.

Air pollution ‘may affect the health of your baby’
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You Might Want To Mask Up: Fireworks Cause Spikes In Air Pollution

Posted on July 5, 2021 by Respro® UK Ltd

Many people will flock to Fourth of July celebrations this weekend, eager to raise a toast beneath the year’s most spectacular aerial displays now that pandemic restrictions have been lifted.

But some might want to keep those N95 masks handy if they’re getting close to fireworks, especially those set off in backyard displays. The chemical compounds and reactions that make all those colorful lights shine and explode come with a toxic stew of air pollutants.

For the short term at least, those with respiratory illnesses like asthma and COPD should keep their distance. And pyrotechnics are not too great for the planet either.

“They’re really bad for air quality,” said Lelia Hawkins, “at least in the short term.”

Hawkins, an associate professor of chemistry at Harvey Mudd College, said some of the most polluting elements are the metals used to create the brilliant colors.

Red, white, and blue are produced by metal salts like strontium, magnesium, copper, lead, and barium. Lithium gets you pink, while sodium salts create yellows. The resulting smoke and greenhouse gas emissions include carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen. Particulate matter, such as PM 2.5 and black carbon or soot, is emitted with any type of combustion. But with fireworks, that smoke also includes toxic metals.

“Metals are really what makes the fireworks interesting and exciting for people because that’s what we’re getting the colors from,” said Pallavi Pant, who has studied the air pollution impact of fireworks for the past decade and is now senior scientist at the Health Effects Institute. “When a lot of these fireworks are in the air, we get these huge spikes in air pollution, including particles, and within these particles are tiny metal particles.”

Pant said there isn’t a lot of research into either the short-term or long-term health impact of fireworks. But she noted that those who have respiratory illnesses like asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, can experience aggravated symptoms.

She says the effects are short term, and the air quality goes back to normal levels within a day or two.

“The biggest impacts are when people are exposed to air pollutants over long periods of time,” she said.

Still, Pant said people who live with asthma should avoid getting close to fireworks, especially those set off by individuals in backyards or parks, and wearing N95 masks may help.

“If possible, be upwind of the fireworks,” she said, “and try to protect children because they breathe in the most air pollutants.”

Air quality does go back to normal within several hours in some cases, Pant said.

“A lot of the attention on the health side has focused primarily on burns and injuries, because that’s what people think about when it comes to the dangers of fireworks,” she said. “But unfortunately, much, much less attention on air quality.”

The pollutants can also filter down into rivers and streams, causing enhanced levels of metals that could affect aquatic life and water quality.

You Might Want To Mask Up: Fireworks Cause Spikes In Air Pollution | 90.5 WESA
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Air pollution in pregnancy increases asthma risk in unborn child

Posted on July 2, 2021 by Respro® UK Ltd

Exposure to high levels of air pollution during pregnancy might increase the chance of the unborn child eventually developing asthma, researchers have said.

A team from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York carried out a study which involved 376 mothers and their babies who lived in the Boston metropolitan area.

The researchers wanted to look at how air pollution might impact the pregnancy and the child once it is eventually born.

In the UK, it is believed that one in 12 people have asthma which causes the airways to narrow and swell, sometimes making it harder to breathe.

During the trial each participating woman had their daily exposure to ultra-fine particles  associated with pollution measured.

The research team found evidence of more particles among the females who lived near busy roads which had higher volumes of traffic.

Three years later the same women were visited so the researchers could find out which of the children born to the women involved in the study had developed asthma.

In total, 18 per cent of the children born to mothers who were exposed to high levels of ultra-fine particle air pollution developed asthma. The findings also suggested that female babies were more prone to develop the breathing condition when compared to the boys.

The research team say this is the first time exposure to air pollution during pregnancy has been linked to asthma post birth.

Speaking to the MailOnline, lead researcher Dr Rosalind Wright, said: “This research is an important early step in building the evidence base that can lead to better monitoring of exposure to ultra fine particles in the United States and ultimately to regulation.

“As we advance methods for measuring these tiny particles, we hope for replication of these findings, both within different geographic areas across the United States as well as globally.

“Childhood asthma remains a global epidemic that is likely to grow with the anticipated rise in particulate air pollution exposures due to effects of climate change.”

Air pollution in pregnancy increases asthma risk in unborn child
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