Association of air pollution exposure during gestational and the first year of life with physical growth in preschoolers

ABSTRACT

This study explored the association of exposure to air pollutants during gestational and the first year of life with physical growth in preschoolers. The linear and logistic regression models were used to estimate the associations between air pollution and childhood growth. After adjusting for confounders, z-scores of body mass index (zBMI, and 95% confidence intervals, 95%CI) increased by 1.164(1.054,1.285), 1.136(1.050,1.228) and 1.165(1.041,1.303), associated with per interquartile range (IQR) increase in NO₂ (nitrogen dioxide), PM_2.5 and PM₁₀ (particulate matter with aerodynamic diameters ≤2.5 μm and 10 μm) during gestational, respectively. The odds ratios (and 95%CI) of childhood overweight/obesity associated with per IQR increase in NO₂, PM_2.5 and PM₁₀ during gestational were 1.425(1.168,1.737), 1.255(1.087,1.450) and 1.332(1.104,1.605). Positive associations were found between air pollution during the first year of life and zBMI or overweight/obesity. Our findings suggest exposure to air pollution were associated with childhood growth, and improving air quality is beneficial for childhood growth.

KEYWORDS:

• Air pollution
• prenatal exposure
• childhood growth
• obesity
• China

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.

Acknowledgments

We gratefully thank all the children, their parents/guardians for their enthusiastic participation, and all the staff of kindergartens for their cooperation.

Authors'contributions

Concept and design: Menglan Guo, Chenchang Xiao, Hong Yan, Bin Yu. Acquisition, analysis, and interpretation of data: Menglan Guo, Mengxi Zhai, Liqing Wei, Xiaohong Yin, Quzhen Gesang. Statistical analysis: Menglan Guo, ChenchangXiao, Hong Yan, Bin Yu. Drafting of the manuscript: Menglan Guo. Critical revision of the manuscript: Hong Yan, Bin Yu. All authors have read and approved of the publication of the final manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethical approval

This study was approved by the Medical Ethics Committee of Wuhan University. All the parents recruited in the study signed informed consent forms before the survey.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.