Preeclampsia represents a major cause of maternal mortality and morbidity worldwide. Although it is known that the placenta plays a central role in development of preeclampsia, investigation into the ...contribution of environmental toxicants to the risk of preeclampsia has been sparse.
In the present study we examined the relationship between longitudinally measured urinary BPA and phthalate metabolite concentrations during gestation and preeclampsia.
A nested case-control study of preterm birth was performed in 2011 from women enrolled in a prospective birth cohort study at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. There were 50 cases of preeclampsia as part of this study. Urine samples were analyzed for concentrations of BPA and nine phthalate metabolites several times during pregnancy. Adjusted Cox proportional hazard models were used to calculate hazard ratios of preeclampsia in association with an interquartile range increase in BPA and phthalate concentrations and were weighted to reflect results generalizable to the base population.
Adjusted hazard ratios indicated that an interquartile range increase of urinary concentrations of BPA (1.53; 95% CI: 1.04, 2.25) and MEP (monoethyl phthalate) (1.72; 95% CI: 1.28, 2.30) at 10 weeks gestation was associated with onset of preeclampsia, whereas significantly elevated hazard ratios were found across gestation for all DEHP di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate metabolites. These relationships differed based on infant sex.
Urinary concentrations of BPA and several phthalate metabolites were significantly associated with increased risk of preeclampsia. If validated, these results indicate an environmental contribution of endocrine-disrupting chemicals to preeclampsia and suggest a modifiable means to reduce the mortality and morbidity associated with this condition.
Cantonwine DE, Meeker JD, Ferguson KK, Mukherjee B, Hauser R, McElrath TF. 2016. Urinary concentrations of bisphenol A and phthalate metabolites measured during pregnancy and risk of preeclampsia. Environ Health Perspect 124:1651-1655; http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/EHP188.
Fossil fuel combustion by-products, including particulate matter (PM2.5), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and carbon dioxide (CO2), are a significant threat to ...children's health and equality. Various policies to reduce emissions have been implemented to reduce air pollution and mitigate climate change, with sizeable estimated health and economic benefits. However, only a few adverse outcomes in children have been considered, resulting in an undercounting of the benefits to this vulnerable population.
Our goal was to expand the suite of child health outcomes addressed by programs to assess health and economic benefits, such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Benefits Mapping and Analysis Program (BenMAP), by identifying concentration-response (C-R) functions for six outcomes related to PM2.5, NO2, PAH, and/or PM10: preterm birth (PTB), low birthweight (LBW), autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, IQ reduction, and the development of childhood asthma.
We conducted a systematic review of the literature published between January 1, 2000 and April 30, 2018 to identify relevant peer-reviewed case-control and cohort studies and meta–analyses. In some cases meta-analyses were available that provided reliable C-R functions and we assessed their consistency with subsequent studies. Otherwise, we reviewed all eligible studies published between our search dates.
For each pollutant and health outcome, we present the characteristics of each selected study. We distinguish between C-R functions for endpoints having a causal or likely relationship (PTB, LBW, autism, asthma development) with the pollutants for incorporation into primary analyses and endpoints having a suggestive causal relationship with the pollutants (IQ reduction, ADHD) for secondary analyses.
We have identified C-R functions for a number of adverse health outcomes in children associated with air pollutants largely from fossil fuel combustion. Their incorporation into expanded assessments of health benefits of clean air and climate mitigation policies will provide an important incentive for preventive action.
Preventing childhood obesity Koplan, Jeffrey; Liverman, Catharyn T; Kraak, Vivica I
2005, 20050113, 2005-01-31, 2005-01-15, 20050101
eBook, Book
Odprti dostop
Children's health has made tremendous strides over the past century. In general, life expectancy has increased by more than thirty years since 1900 and much of this improvement is due to the ...reduction of infant and early childhood mortality. Given this trajectory toward a healthier childhood, we begin the 21st-century with a shocking development?an epidemic of obesity in children and youth. The increased number of obese children throughout the U.S. during the past 25 years has led policymakers to rank it as one of the most critical public health threats of the 21st-century.
Preventing Childhood Obesity provides a broad-based examination of the nature, extent, and consequences of obesity in U.S. children and youth, including the social, environmental, medical, and dietary factors responsible for its increased prevalence. The book also offers a prevention-oriented action plan that identifies the most promising array of short-term and longer-term interventions, as well as recommendations for the roles and responsibilities of numerous stakeholders in various sectors of society to reduce its future occurrence. Preventing Childhood Obesity explores the underlying causes of this serious health problem and the actions needed to initiate, support, and sustain the societal and lifestyle changes that can reverse the trend among our children and youth.
The use of cadmium to produce inexpensive jewelry has recently been documented. Governments have adopted varying standards, with US states focused on either total cadmium content or extractable ...cadmium from children's jewelry, while the European Union has adopted a limit of 100 mg/kg cadmium for all jewelry. This study evaluated 80 items purchased at a discount jewelry store. The objective was to determine prevalence of cadmium in this jewelry, the amount of cadmium released by simulated mouthing or ingestion, and to confirm previous reports that damage to jewelry can increase cadmium release. Finally, a modified toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (TCLP) assessed the potential for jewelry to release cadmium after disposal. Thirty-two (40%) items showed detectable cadmium by X-ray fluorescence. Nine high‑cadmium pendants and rings with cadmium content ranging from 31.3 to 89.2% were subjected to extractions simulating mouthing or ingestion. Seven of nine items extracted in dilute saline to simulate mouthing released more than the US recommended maximum of 18 micrograms. Damaged jewelry released more cadmium for most items tested, with one ring yielding an average of 10,600 micrograms. Two pendants small enough to be swallowed were tested using dilute HCl to simulate ingestion. While one pendant did not release cadmium in excess of the US recommended maximum of 200 micrograms even when damaged, the other released an average of 63,100 micrograms after being damaged. Fourteen of fifteen samples of two high cadmium charms extracted using a modified TCLP extraction exceeded the 1.0 mg/L TCLP limit for cadmium, averaging 13.1 and 9.6 mg/L respectively for the two charms. These results demonstrate that high‑cadmium jewelry may pose a serious hazard if mouthed or ingested, and that regulatory standards that do not take into account the potential for increased release of cadmium resulting from damage to jewelry electroplating are inadequate.
Display omitted
•Cadmium was detected in 40% of jewelry items purchased at a discount jewelry store.•Nine jewelry items were selected to evaluate their potential to release cadmium.•Simulated mouthing of intact items released up to 5310 micrograms of cadmium.•Damage to jewelry items greatly increased the extractability of cadmium.•Simulated ingestion of damaged items released up to 63,100 micrograms of cadmium.
Objective
This study investigates differences between health trajectories of children of divorce or separation and children of continuously married families.
Background
Over the past 50 years, during ...which fewer children grew up in families with both biological parents, there has been an increased academic interest to understand how children fared in alternative family structures.
Method
This study uses retrospective illness histories from a recent supplement to the Panel Study of Income Dynamics to conduct a longitudinal analysis of parental breakup and child health.
Results
Children of divorce were found to exhibit higher prevalence of several illnesses during adolescence and young adulthood than children of continuously married families. Controlling for family resources and parental mental health moderated the relationship between parental breakup and negative health outcomes. However, significant associations between parental breakup and children's health outcomes remained.
Conclusion
This study provides a general outline of how parental breakup is associated with children's health trajectories. Although the analysis controls for an extensive set of variables by employing a quasi‐experimental method, caution in interpreting these findings as causal relationships is warranted.
Implications
Given the evidence presented, it is vital that parents and children have easy access to coping‐focused preventive interventions designed to reduce adverse effects of divorce on children.
Half the world's population lives in urban areas. It is therefore important to identify characteristics of the built environment that are beneficial to human health. Urban greenness has been ...associated with improvements in a diverse range of health conditions, including birth outcomes; however, few studies have attempted to distinguish potential effects of greenness from those of other spatially correlated exposures related to the built environment.
We aimed to investigate associations between residential greenness and birth outcomes and evaluate the influence of spatially correlated built environment factors on these associations.
We examined associations between residential greenness measured using satellite-derived Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) within 100 m of study participants' homes and birth outcomes in a cohort of 64,705 singleton births (from 1999-2002) in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. We also evaluated associations after adjusting for spatially correlated built environmental factors that may influence birth outcomes, including exposure to air pollution and noise, neighborhood walkability, and distance to the nearest park.
An interquartile increase in greenness (0.1 in residential NDVI) was associated with higher term birth weight (20.6 g; 95% CI: 16.5, 24.7) and decreases in the likelihood of small for gestational age, very preterm (< 30 weeks), and moderately preterm (30-36 weeks) birth. Associations were robust to adjustment for air pollution and noise exposures, neighborhood walkability, and park proximity.
Increased residential greenness was associated with beneficial birth outcomes in this population-based cohort. These associations did not change after adjusting for other spatially correlated built environment factors, suggesting that alternative pathways (e.g., psychosocial and psychological mechanisms) may underlie associations between residential greenness and birth outcomes.
This study uses the bioecological model of human development and person-centered methods to describe the underlying patterns of risk and their association with bullying perpetration and victimization ...among U.S. children.
Using the National Survey of Children's Health, this study (n = 7319) explored the underlying patterns of risks across six domains (i.e., individual, family, school, neighborhood, economic, and socio-cultural) associated with bullying perpetration and victimization among U.S. elementary school children.
Latent Class Analysis uncovered four patterns of risks. The low risks group (72.4%) showed the lowest rates of bullying perpetration (24.6%) and victimization (57.2%). The individual and environmental risks group (15.3%) presented moderate levels of bullying perpetration (31.8%) and victimization (67.1%). The family risks group (8.3%) showed moderate levels of bullying perpetration (35.9%) and victimization (66.0%). High risks group (4.0%) presented exceptionally high rates of bullying perpetration (59.1%) and victimization (87.3%).
Results suggest rates of bullying perpetration and victimization differed across the four patterns of risks. Understanding the sources of risk may be critical to alleviate bullying perpetration and victimization among children.
Findings suggest that child bullying should be approached with customized treatment considering their pattern of risk exposure.
•Four underlying risk patterns associated with bullying perpetration and victimization.•Bullying rates among U.S. children were 29% for perpetration and 61% for victimization.•Customized anti-bullying treatments should consider a child's risk pattern.
The Asian American health narrative reflects a long history of structural racism in the US and the complex interplay of racialized history, immigrant patterns, and policies regarding Asians in the ...US. Yet owing to systematic issues in data collection including missing or misclassified data for Asian Americans and practices that lead to indiscriminate grouping of unlike individuals (for example, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Bangladeshi) together in data systems and pervasive stereotypes of Asian Americans, the drivers and experiences of health disparities experienced by these diverse groups remain unclear. The perpetual exclusion and misrepresentation of Asian American experiences in health research is exacerbated by three racialized stereotypes-the model minority, healthy immigrant effect, and perpetual foreigner-that fuel scientific and societal perceptions that Asian Americans do not experience health disparities. This codifies racist biases against the Asian American population in a mutually reinforcing cycle. In this article we describe the poor-quality data infrastructure and biases on the part of researchers and public health professionals, and we highlight examples from the health disparities literature. We provide recommendations on how to implement systems-level change and educational reform to infuse racial equity in future policy and practice for Asian American communities.
Context: Organophosphate (OP) pesticides are neurotoxic at high doses. Few studies have examined whether chronic exposure at lower levels could adversely affect children's cognitive development. ...Objective: We examined associations between prenatal and postnatal exposure to OP pesticides and cognitive abilities in school-age children. Methods: We conducted a birth cohort study (Center for the Health Assessment of Mothers and Children of Salinas study) among predominantly Latino farmworker families from an agricultural community in California. We assessed exposure to OP pesticides by measuring diaikyl phosphate (DAP) metabolites in urine collected during pregnancy and from children at 6 months and 1, 2, 3.5, and 5 years of age. We administered the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, 4th edition, to 329 children 7 years of age. Analyses were adjusted for maternal education and intelligence, Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment score, and language of cognitive assessment. Results: Urinary DAP concentrations measured during the first and second half of pregnancy had similar relations to cognitive scores, so we used the average of concentrations measured during pregnancy in further analyses. Averaged maternal DAP concentrations were associated with poorer scores for Working Memory, Processing Speed, Verbal Comprehension, Perceptual Reasoning, and Full-Scale intelligence quotient (IQ). Children in the highest quintile of maternal DAP concentrations had an average deficit of 7.0 IQ points compared with those in the lowest quintile. However, children's urinary DAP concentrations were not consistently associated with cognitive scores. Conclusions: Prenatal but not postnatal urinary DAP concentrations were associated with poorer intellectual development in 7-year-old children. Maternal urinary DAP concentrations in the present study were higher but nonetheless within the range of levels measured in the general U.S. population.
Inhaling fine particles (particulate matter with diameter ≤ 2.5 μm; PM2.5) can induce oxidative stress and inflammation, and may contribute to onset of preterm labor and other adverse perinatal ...outcomes.
We examined whether outdoor PM2.5 was associated with adverse birth outcomes among 22 countries in the World Health Organization Global Survey on Maternal and Perinatal Health from 2004 through 2008.
Long-term average (2001-2006) estimates of outdoor PM2.5 were assigned to 50-km-radius circular buffers around each health clinic where births occurred. We used generalized estimating equations to determine associations between clinic-level PM2.5 levels and preterm birth and low birth weight at the individual level, adjusting for seasonality and potential confounders at individual, clinic, and country levels. Country-specific associations were also investigated.
Across all countries, adjusting for seasonality, PM2.5 was not associated with preterm birth, but was associated with low birth weight odds ratio (OR) = 1.22; 95% CI: 1.07, 1.39 for fourth quartile of PM2.5 (> 20.2 μg/m3) compared with the first quartile (< 6.3 μg/m3). In China, the country with the largest PM2.5 range, preterm birth and low birth weight both were associated with the highest quartile of PM2.5 only, which suggests a possible threshold effect (OR = 2.54; CI: 1.42, 4.55 and OR = 1.99; CI: 1.06, 3.72 for preterm birth and low birth weight, respectively, for PM2.5 ≥ 36.5 μg/m3 compared with PM2.5 < 12.5 μg/m3).
Outdoor PM2.5 concentrations were associated with low birth weight but not preterm birth. In rapidly developing countries, such as China, the highest levels of air pollution may be of concern for both outcomes.
PDF
