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Second Edition of the Air Pollution Impact on Children’s Health

A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Children's Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2023) | Viewed by 211821

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
LEPABE - Laboratory for Process Engineering, Environment, Biotechnology and Energy, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal
Interests: impact of air quality on public health; assessment and management of air quality; atmospheric emissions from shipping; indoor air quality and its impact on childhood asthma–epidemiology; low-cost sensors for air quality measurements; air quality modeling
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Air pollution is responsible for approximately 6 million deaths per year, accounting for ambient and indoor air pollution. Children are especially vulnerable to environmental hazards, namely regarding lung development, making them a risk group. Protecting the health of children and the environment is an essential objective for the health policies of any modern society and is also crucial for a sustainable development. Recent studies conducted around the world have been showing the effects for very vulnerable periods of development, namely, intrauterine, perinatal, and early childhood. Air pollution is related to numerous diseases in children, including low birth weight, asthma, cancer, and neurodevelopmental disorders, which are becoming more widespread. The full impact of air pollution is still not known and is most certainly underdiagnosed because exposure is still not well considered, and pollutants’ toxicity is still not fully understood. This Special Issue will focus on the impact of air pollution on children’s health, especially on the early stages of their development, contributing to the advancement of this field of knowledge.

The first edition of this Special Issue provided some understanding especially concerning the impact of fine particulate matter. Nevertheless, there is still ground for more discussion regarding this and other pollutants, hence this second volume.

Dr. Sofia Sousa
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • air pollutants
  • children’s health
  • pediatrics

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Related Special Issue

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

4 pages, 507 KiB  
Article
Population Attributable Fraction of Gas Stoves and Childhood Asthma in the United States
by Talor Gruenwald, Brady A. Seals, Luke D. Knibbs and H. Dean Hosgood III
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(1), 75; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20010075 - 21 Dec 2022
Cited by 35 | Viewed by 202514
Abstract
Indoor gas stove use for cooking is associated with an increased risk of current asthma among children and is prevalent in 35% of households in the United States (US). The population-level implications of gas cooking are largely unrecognized. We quantified the population attributable [...] Read more.
Indoor gas stove use for cooking is associated with an increased risk of current asthma among children and is prevalent in 35% of households in the United States (US). The population-level implications of gas cooking are largely unrecognized. We quantified the population attributable fraction (PAF) for gas stove use and current childhood asthma in the US. Effect sizes previously reported by meta-analyses for current asthma (Odds Ratio = 1.34, 95% Confidence Interval (CI) = 1.12–1.57) were utilized in the PAF estimations. The proportion of children (<18 years old) exposed to gas stoves was obtained from the American Housing Survey for the US, and states with available data (n = 9). We found that 12.7% (95% CI = 6.3–19.3%) of current childhood asthma in the US is attributable to gas stove use. The proportion of childhood asthma that could be theoretically prevented if gas stove use was not present (e.g., state-specific PAFs) varied by state (Illinois = 21.1%; California = 20.1%; New York = 18.8%; Massachusetts = 15.4%; Pennsylvania = 13.5%). Our results quantify the US public health burden attributed to gas stove use and childhood asthma. Further research is needed to quantify the burden experienced at the county levels, as well as the impacts of implementing mitigation strategies through intervention studies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Second Edition of the Air Pollution Impact on Children’s Health)
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17 pages, 2968 KiB  
Article
Time Trends of Greenspaces, Air Pollution, and Asthma Prevalence among Children and Adolescents in India
by Sowmya Malamardi, Katrina A. Lambert, Attahalli Shivanarayanaprasad Praveena, Mahesh Padukudru Anand and Bircan Erbas
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(22), 15273; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192215273 - 18 Nov 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 4692
Abstract
The prevalence of childhood asthma contributes to the global burden of the disease substantially. Air pollution in India has increased. In this study, we examine the associations among greenspaces, air pollution, and asthma prevalence in children and adolescents over a large, diverse population [...] Read more.
The prevalence of childhood asthma contributes to the global burden of the disease substantially. Air pollution in India has increased. In this study, we examine the associations among greenspaces, air pollution, and asthma prevalence in children and adolescents over a large, diverse population in India. We used state-wide global burden of disease data on asthma from age 0 to 19 years in 2005, 2011, and 2017. For greenspace, we used the normalized differential vegetation index (NDVI), which is the surface reflectance of light during photosynthetic activity. NDVI, air pollutants (PM2.5, PM10, SO2, NO2, and O3), weather, and socio-demographic factors were included in generalized estimating equation (GEE) models to estimate their associations with childhood asthma prevalence over time. Novel data visualization illustrated the complex spatial distributions. NDVI was associated with asthma prevalence (β = 0.144; 95% CI = 0.10, 0.186; p < 0.0001) for high PM2.5, along with high levels of both gaseous air pollutants, SO2, and NO2 ((β = 0.12; 95% CI = 0.08, 0.16; p < 0.0001) and (β = 0.09; 95% CI = 0.05, 0.13; p < 0.0001)). However, NDVI and high O3, had a strong negative association with asthma prevalence (β = −0.19; 95% CI = −0.26, −0.11; p < 0.0001). We observed additional effects of the interaction between the NDVI and high concentrations of PM2.5, PM10, NO2, and O3, assuming that these associations share a common pathway, and found interaction effects for asthma prevalence. Given the changing environmental conditions that interplay over geographical characteristics on the prevalence of asthma, further studies may elucidate a better understanding of these complex associations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Second Edition of the Air Pollution Impact on Children’s Health)
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10 pages, 2253 KiB  
Article
The Association between Ambient PM2.5 and Low Birth Weight in California
by Jasmine Lee, Sadie Costello, John R. Balmes and Stephanie M. Holm
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(20), 13554; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192013554 - 19 Oct 2022
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 1704
Abstract
Previous studies have shown associations between air pollutants and low birth weight. However, few studies assess whether poverty and race/ethnicity are effect modifiers for this relationship. We used publicly available data on 7785 California census tracts from the California Communities Environmental Health Screening [...] Read more.
Previous studies have shown associations between air pollutants and low birth weight. However, few studies assess whether poverty and race/ethnicity are effect modifiers for this relationship. We used publicly available data on 7785 California census tracts from the California Communities Environmental Health Screening Tool (CalEnviroScreen). Multivariable linear regression was used to examine the association between outdoor PM2.5 and low birth weight (LBW), including stratification by poverty and race/ethnicity (as a proxy for experienced racism). A 1 µg m3 increase in PM2.5 was associated with a 0.03% (95% CI: 0.01, 0.04) increase in the percentage of LBW infants in a census tract. The association between PM2.5 and LBW was stronger in census tracts with the majority living in poverty (0.06% increase; 95% CI: 0.03, 0.08) compared to those with fewer people living in poverty (0.02% increase; 95% CI: 0.00, 0.03). Our results show that exposure to outdoor PM2.5 is associated with a small increase in the percentage of LBW infants in a census tract, with a further increase in tracts with high poverty. The results for effect modification by race/ethnicity were less conclusive. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Second Edition of the Air Pollution Impact on Children’s Health)
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11 pages, 586 KiB  
Article
Gestational and Neonatal Outcomes in Cities in the Largest Coal Mining Region in Brazil
by Renata Dupont Soares, Marina dos Santos, Fernando Rafael de Moura, Ana Luiza Muccillo-Baisch, Paulo Roberto Martins Baisch, Maria Cristina Flores Soares and Flavio Manoel Rodrigues da Silva Júnior
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(19), 12107; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191912107 - 24 Sep 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1676
Abstract
Brazil has one of the largest mineral coal reserves in the world. More than 40% of this ore is in the Candiota Mine, in the extreme south of Brazil, which was previously identified as a hotspot of environmental pollution. In addition, an important [...] Read more.
Brazil has one of the largest mineral coal reserves in the world. More than 40% of this ore is in the Candiota Mine, in the extreme south of Brazil, which was previously identified as a hotspot of environmental pollution. In addition, an important part of Brazil’s population suffers from socioeconomic vulnerability. Since there is no information on unfavorable gestational and neonatal outcomes associated with these problems, we conducted a cross-sectional study with 1950 mother–child binomials, aiming to evaluate the association between these outcomes and air pollution as well as socioeconomic, demographic and health variables in seven cities in the region. Of the total births, 11.6% were preterm and 9.5% of neonates had low birth weight (<2500 g). These conditions were also associated with skin color, previous abortions, birth type and prenatal care, as well as exposure to higher levels of coarse particulate matter (PM10) during the first trimester of pregnancy. Regarding air pollutants, although the daily limits for PM10 were exceeded on less than 5% of days, the annual average overtook the values proposed by WHO. Thus, we concluded that prematurity and low birth weight in this region are related to air pollution, and to socioeconomic variables and health care. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Second Edition of the Air Pollution Impact on Children’s Health)
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