Associations between prenatal and early-life air pollution exposure and lung function in young children: exploring influential windows of exposure on lung development
Year: 2022
Type: conference-abstract
Abstract: Background and Aim: Evidence in the literature suggests that air pollution exposures experienced prenatally and early in life can be detrimental to normal lung development, however potentially more influential windows during development are not fully understood. We evaluate air pollution exposures during the prenatal and early-life period in association with lung function at ages 7-9, in an effort to identify potentially influential windows of exposure for lung development. Methods: Our study population consisted of 222 children aged 7-9, from the Fresno-Clovis metro area in California with spirometry data collected between May 2015 and May 2017. We used distributed-lag non-linear models to flexibly model the exposure-lag-response for monthly average exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and ozone (O3) during the prenatal months and first three years of life in association with forced vital capacity (FVC), and forced expiratory volume in the first second (FEV1), adjusted for covariates. Results: PM2.5 exposure during the period spanning pregnancy and the first 3-years of life was associated with lower FVC and FEV-1. Specifically, an increase from the 5th percentile of the observed monthly average exposure (7.55 μg/m3) to the median observed exposure (12.69 μg/m3) was associated with 0.42 L lower FVC (95% confidence interval (CI): -0.81, -0.03) and 0.38 L lower FEV1 (95% CI: -0.74, -0.01). The shape of the lag-response indicated that the second half of pregnancy may be a more influential window of exposure. Associations for ozone were not as strong and typically CIs included the null. Conclusion: Our findings indicate that prenatal and early-life exposures to PM2.5 are associated with decreased lung function later in childhood. Exposures during the latter months of pregnancy may be especially influential. Keywords: air pollution, lung development, distributed-lag models, exposure windows
Source: ISEE Conference Abstracts
Language: English
Subfield: Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4317181583