The pool chlorine hypothesis postulates that the rise in childhood asthma in the developed world could result at least partly from the increasing exposure of children to toxic gases and aerosols ...contaminating the air of indoor chlorinated pools. To further assess this hypothesis, we explored the relationships between childhood asthma, atopy, and cumulated pool attendance (CPA). We studied 341 schoolchildren 10-13 years of age who attended at a variable rate the same public pool in Brussels (trichloramine in air,$0.3-0.5 mg/m^3$). Examination of the children included a questionnaire, an exercise-induced bronchoconstriction (EIB) test, and the measurement of exhaled nitric oxide (eNO) and total and aeroallergen-specific serum IgE. CPA by children (range, 0-1,818 hr) emerged among the most consistent predictors of asthma (doctor diagnosed or screened with the EIB test) and of elevated eNO, ranking immediately after atopy and family history of asthma or hay fever. Although the risk of elevated eNO increased with CPA odds ratio (OR) = 1.30; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.10-1.43 independently of total or specific serum IgE, the probability of developing asthma increased with CPA only in children with serum IgE > 100 kIU/L (OR for each 100-hr increase in CPA = 1.79; 95% CI, 1.07-2.72). All these effects were dose related and most strongly linked to pool attendance before 6-7 years of age. Use of indoor chlorinated pools especially by young children interacts with atopic status to promote the development of childhood asthma. These findings further support the hypothesis implicating pool chlorine in the rise of childhood asthma in industrialized countries.
Background: Studies relying on outdoor pollutants measures have reported associations between air pollutants and birth weight. Objective: Our aim was to assess the relation between maternal personal ...exposure to airborne benzene during pregnancy and fetal growth. Methods: We recruited pregnant women in two French maternity hospitals in 2005-2006 as part of the EDEN mother-child cohort. A subsample of 271 nonsmoking women carried a diffusive air sampler for a week during the 27th gestational week, allowing assessment of benzene exposure. We estimated head circumference of the offspring by ultrasound measurements during the second and third trimesters of pregnancy and at birth. Results: Median benzene exposure was 1.8 ¼g/m³ (5th, 95th percentiles, 0.5, 7.5 ¼g/m³). Logtransformed benzene exposure was associated with a gestational age-adjusted decrease of 68 g in mean birth weight 95% confidence interval (CI), -135 to -1 g and of 1.9 mm in mean head circumference at birth (95% CI, -3.8 to 0.0 mm). It was associated with an adjusted decrease of 1.9 mm in head circumference assessed during the third trimester (95% CI, -4.0 to 0.3 mm) and of 1.5 mm in head circumference assessed at the end of the second trimester of pregnancy (95% CI, -3.1 to 0 mm). Conclusions: Our prospective study among pregnant women is one of the first to rely on personal monitoring of exposure; a limitation is that exposure was assessed during 1 week only. Maternal benzene exposure was associated with decreases in birth weight and head circumference during pregnancy and at birth. This association could be attributable to benzene and a mixture of associated traffic-related air pollutants.
Epidemiologic studies of postnatal PCB exposure and behavior have not reported consistent evidence of adverse associations, possibly because of challenges in exposure estimation. We previously ...developed a pharmacokinetic model to improve estimation of children's PCB exposure.
We aimed to assess whether estimated serum PCB levels in infancy are associated with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)-related behaviors at 8 years of age among children whose cord serum PCB levels were previously shown to be associated with ADHD-related behaviors.
We used a pharmacokinetic model to estimate monthly serum polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB)-153 levels in 441 infants (ages 1-12 months) based on parameters such as breastfeeding and cord serum PCB-153 levels. Behavior was evaluated at age 8 using the Conners' Rating Scale for Teachers (CRS-T). Associations between PCB-153 levels and ADHD-related CRS-T indices were assessed using multivariable quantile regression at the 50th and 75th percentiles of CRS-T scores, where higher percentiles reflect more adverse behaviors.
Cord serum PCB-153 levels (median, 38 ng/g lipids) were associated with ADHD-related behaviors, although statistical significance was observed with quantile regression models only at the 75th percentile. Associations with postnatal exposure estimates were attenuated. For example, hyperactive-impulsive behavior scores at age 8 years were 0.9 points (95% CI: 0.2, 2.5), 0.5 points (95% CI: 0.3, 2.3), and 0.3 points (95% CI: -0.2, 1.5) higher in association with interquartile range increases in serum PCB-153 at birth, 2 months, and 12 months of age, respectively.
Associations between estimated postnatal PCB-153 exposures and ADHD-related behaviors at 8 years of age were weaker than associations with PCB-153 concentrations measured in cord serum at birth.
Verner MA, Hart JE, Sagiv SK, Bellinger DC, Altshul LM, Korrick SA. 2015. Measured prenatal and estimated postnatal levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and ADHD-related behaviors in 8-year-old children. Environ Health Perspect 123:888-894; http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1408084.
The Japan Environment and Children's Study (JECS) is a large-scale birth cohort study, in which mothers and children enrolled in maternity homes are followed-up until their children reach 13 years of ...age. JECS was launched in 2011 and included 100,000 pairs of parents and children. The purpose of JECS is to investigate the effects of environmental factors during pregnancy and after birth on children's growth and development; it has been applied to five major areas, including pregnancy and reproduction, congenital malformations, neuropsychiatric development, immunity and allergy, and metabolism and endocrine systems. In this review, the outline and objectives of the JECS are reported, primarily focusing on reports from the Toyama Regional Center.
Background: A growing body of evidence indicates a relationship between household indoor air pollution from cooking fires and adverse neonatal outcomes, such as low birth weight (LBW), in ...resource-poor countries. Objective: We examined the effect of reduced wood smoke exposure in pregnancy on LBW of Guatemalan infants in RESPIRE (Randomized Exposure Study of Pollution Indoors and Respiratory Effects). Methods: Pregnant women (n = 266) either received a chimney stove (intervention) or continued to cook over an open fire (control). Between October 2002 and December 2004 we weighed 174 eligible infants (69 to mothers who used a chimney stove and 105 to mothers who used an open fire during pregnancy) within 48 hr of birth. Multivariate linear regression and adjusted odds ratios (ORs) were used to estimate differences in birth weight and LBW (< 2,500 g) associated with chimney-stove versus open-fire use during pregnancy. Results: Pregnant women using chimney stoves had a 39% reduction in mean exposure to carbon monoxide compared with those using open fires. LBW prevalence was high at 22.4%. On average, infants born to mothers who used a stove weighed 89 g more 95% confidence interval (CI), -27 to 204 g than infants whose mothers used open fires after adjusting for maternal height, diastolic blood pressure, gravidity, and season of birth. The adjusted OR for LBW was 0.74 (95% CI, 0.33-1.66) among infants of stove users compared with open-fire users. Average birth weight was 296 g higher (95% CI, 109-482 g) in infants born during the cold season (after harvest) than in other infants; this unanticipated finding may reflect the role of maternal nutrition on birth weight in an impoverished region. Conclusions: A chimney stove reduced wood smoke exposures and was associated with reduced LBW occurrence. Although not statistically significant, the estimated effect was consistent with previous studies.
Funded by the European Commission, the Promoting Adolescent health through an intervention is aimed at improving the quality of their participation in Physical Activity (PAPA) project revolved around ...the potential of youth sport to promote children's mental and emotional health and physical activity engagement. A theoretically grounded coach education training programme (i.e. Empowering Coaching™), which was designed to create a sporting environment which was more positive and adaptive for young children, was customised for grassroots soccer, delivered and evaluated via a multi-method cluster RCT across five European countries; namely, England, France, Greece, Norway and Spain. In this article, a key part of the protocol of this large and multi-faceted project is presented. The ethical standards and procedures, characteristics of the population targeted and overall study design, and core self-report questionnaire measures completed by the players are described. Information is provided as well on the translation principles and procedures and data-collection procedures adopted in the PAPA project.
ObjectivesThe Norwegian sport school system offers a method for helping young dual-career athletes achieve their best both in academia and sports. However, there remains a concern that pursuing dual ...careers at a young age may leave some student-athletes vulnerable to poor mental health outcomes. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between gender, grade, and sport type and problematic scores on school burn-out, sport burn-out, self-esteem and psychological distress in student-athletes within a sample of Norwegian lower secondary schools.MethodsA sample of 642 student-athletes (ages 12–14) in grades 8–10 across 8 Norwegian lower secondary sport schools completed questionnaires on burn-out, self-esteem and psychological distress at the beginning of the school year.ResultsFemales were more likely to report high levels of sport-related burn-out and psychological distress, and low self-esteem; older student-athletes were more likely to report severe school-related and sport-related burn-out; and individual sport student-athletes were more likely to report high levels of psychological distress.ConclusionsLower secondary sport schools in Norway may seek to be aware of the challenges facing student-athletes for informed practical steps to protect their mental health and maximise their outcomes as school students and athletes.
Background: Prenatal exposure to mercury has been associated with adverse childhood neurologic outcomes in epidemiologic studies. Dose-response information for this relationship is useful for ...estimating benefits of reduced mercury exposure. Objectives: We estimated a dose-response relationship between maternal mercury body burden and subsequent childhood decrements in intelligence quotient (IQ), using a Bayesian hierarchical model to integrate data from three epidemiologic studies. Methods: Inputs to the model consist of dose-response coefficients from studies conducted in the Faroe Islands, New Zealand, and the Seychelles Islands. IQ coefficients were available from previous work for the latter two studies, and a coefficient for the Faroe Islands study was estimated from three IQ subtests. Other tests of cognition/achievement were included in the hierarchical model to obtain more accurate estimates of study-to-study and end point-to-end point variability. Results: We find a central estimate of-0.18 IQ points (95% confidence interval, -0.378 to -0.009) for each parts per million increase of maternal hair mercury, similar to the estimates for both the Faroe Islands and Seychelles studies, and lower in magnitude than the estimate for the New Zealand study. Sensitivity analyses produce similar results, with the IQ coefficient central estimate ranging from -0.13 to -0.25. Conclusions: IQ is a useful end point for estimating neurodevelopmental effects, but may not fully represent cognitive deficits associated with mercury exposure, and does not represent deficits related to attention and motor skills. Nevertheless, the integrated IQ coefficient provides a more robust description of the dose-response relationship for prenatal mercury exposure and cognitive functioning than results of any single study.
To test the hypotheses that children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have higher screen time than other children on a US nationally representative sample and that children with ASD are ...overrepresented among children who exceed the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) screen time recommendation (2 hours or less a day).
The National Survey of Children's Health 2011-2012, a nationally representative survey, asked parents to report their child's (aged 6-17 years) average daily media usage. The ASD subpopulation (n = 1393) was compared to children without ASD (non-ASD, n = 64,163). Differences were compared by design-corrected F tests. Regression models were estimated for both groups separately. Adjusted Wald tests were used to rigorously test the hypotheses.
More than half of US children exceed the AAP screen time recommendation. Compared to non-ASD, children with ASD had similar amounts of total screen time (3.21 hours per day vs 3.46 hours per day; P > .05), media (TV/video) time, and computer/mobile device leisure time. Children with ASD have a milder age gradient than the general population on computer/mobile device usage. Children with ASD were proportionally represented among high users (more than 2 hours per day). Data did not support hypotheses.
In a large, nationally representative US sample, there was no evidence that children with ASD differ in their screen time habits from other children. Both groups have high screen time use. Caution should be exercised before assuming that children with ASD are at higher risk of exceeding AAP screen time recommendations. Efforts to promote adherence to the recommendation are needed, but they should neither target nor exclude children with ASD.
Climate Extremes and the Length of Gestation Dadvand, Payam; Basagaña, Xavier; Sartini, Claudio ...
Environmental health perspectives,
10/2011, Letnik:
119, Številka:
10
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Background: Although future climate is predicted to have more extreme heat conditions, the available evidence on the impact of these conditions on pregnancy length is very scarce and inconclusive. ...Objectives: We investigated the impact of maternal short-term exposure to extreme ambient heat on the length of pregnancy. Methods: This study was based on a cohort of births that occurred in a major university hospital in Barcelona during 2001-2005. Three indicators of extreme heat conditions based on 1-day exposure to an unusually high heat-humidity index were applied. Each mother was assigned the measures made by the meteorological station closest to maternal residential postcodes. A two-stage analysis was developed to quantify the change in pregnancy length after maternal exposure to extreme heat conditions adjusted for a range of covariates. The second step was repeated for lags 0 (delivery date) to 6 days. Results: We included data from 7,585 pregnant women in our analysis. We estimated a 5-day reduction in average gestational age at delivery after an unusually high heat-humidity index on the day before delivery. Conclusion: Extreme heat was associated with a reduction in the average gestational age of children delivered the next day, suggesting an immediate effect of this exposure on pregnant women. Further studies are required to confirm our findings in different settings.
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