Childhood air pollutant exposures raise odds for adult bronchitic symptoms
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Key takeaways:
- As nitrogen dioxide and PM10 levels during childhood increased, so did the odds for adult bronchitic symptoms.
- Having childhood asthma heightened these odds.
Individuals exposed to nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter less than 10 µm as a child faced elevated odds for bronchitic symptoms as an adult, according to results published in American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
“This study highlights the importance of lowering air pollution, and especially exposure during the critical period of childhood,” Erika Garcia, PhD, MPH, assistant professor of population and public health sciences at the Keck School of Medicine of University of Southern California, said in a press release. “Because there’s only so much that we can do as individuals to control our exposure, the need to protect children from the adverse effects of air pollution is better addressed at the policy level.”
Using data from the Southern California Children’s Health Study (CHS), Garcia and colleagues analyzed 1,308 individuals (60% female; 56% non-Hispanic white; 32% Hispanic) to find out how exposure to nitrogen dioxide, ozone, particulate matter less than 2.5 µm (PM2.5) and PM less than 10 µm (PM10) during childhood impacted the odds for bronchitic symptoms in adulthood.
Researchers gathered each individual’s average childhood air pollutant exposures using the addresses of where they lived from birth to age 17 years.
Additionally, individuals completed a questionnaire on bronchitic symptoms as adults (mean age, 32 years; 81% not currently smoking cigarettes), in which they reported experiences of bronchitis, cough or phlegm in the past 12 months.
Of the total cohort, 25% reported bronchitic symptoms as adults.
Notably, the link between childhood air pollutant exposure and adult bronchitic symptoms was analyzed in a model adjusted for childhood covariates (race and ethnicity, childhood household income, maternal smoking during pregnancy, presence of smoker in childhood home, presence of mold/mildew in childhood home, town at study recruitment, CHS cohort) and adulthood covariates (age, latest education, current smoking status and BMI).
Logistic regression revealed a link between bronchitic symptoms during adulthood and two of the four studied air pollutants during childhood. It should be noted that researchers wrote that there were not enough PM2.5 exposure estimates for analysis.
With each one standard deviation rise in nitrogen dioxide exposure during childhood (11.1 ppb), the odds for adult bronchitic symptoms went up (aOR = 1.69; 95% CI, 1.14-2.49). This was also the case when evaluating PM10, as the likelihood for bronchitic symptoms as an adult went up alongside each one standard deviation increase in this pollutant (14.2 µg/m3) during childhood (aOR = 1.51; 95% CI, 1-2.27).
Researchers noted comparable findings following additional adjustment for childhood bronchitic symptoms (nitrogen dioxide, aOR = 1.7; 95% CI, 1.15-2.5; PM10, aOR = 1.5; 95% CI, 0.99-2.26) and childhood asthma (nitrogen dioxide, aOR = 1.7; 95% CI, 1.15-2.51; PM10, aOR = 1.53; 95% CI, 1.01-2.31).
When considering childhood asthma, a modification was found in the link between bronchitic symptoms during adulthood and exposure to each of the two pollutants during childhood.
As childhood nitrogen dioxide exposure levels rose, those with childhood asthma had greater increased odds for adult bronchitic symptoms (aOR = 2.27; 95% CI, 1.38-3.71) vs. those without childhood asthma (aOR = 1.57; 95% CI, 1.06-2.32; P = .04).
Researchers observed the same pattern between those with childhood asthma and those without childhood asthma when evaluating the odds for bronchitic symptoms as an adult with higher PM10 levels during childhood (with childhood asthma, aOR = 2.34; 95% CI, 1.39-3.96; without childhood asthma, aOR = 1.4; 95% CI, 0.92-2.13; P = .01).
“There may be a subpopulation that is more sensitive to the effects of air pollution,” Garcia said in the release. “We may want to be especially careful to protect them from exposure, so we can improve their outcomes later in life.
“Reducing air pollution would have benefits not only for current asthma in children but also for their respiratory health as they grow into adulthood,” she continued.
Reference:
- Air pollution exposure during childhood linked directly to adult bronchitis symptoms in new research. https://keck.usc.edu/news/air-pollution-exposure-during-childhood-linked-directly-to-adult-bronchitis-symptoms-in-new-research/. Published June 28, 2024. Accessed June 28, 2024.