Children’s Environmental Health

Learning from Sisyphus: time to rethink our current, ineffective strategy on neurodevelopmental environmental toxicants

The overwhelming number of potentially toxic chemicals in consumer products and in our daily environment makes it unrealistic to carry out in-depth analyses of each product with the objective of banning and el...

Authors: Larissa Takser and Darel John Hunting

Assessment of developmental neurotoxicity induced by chemical mixtures using an adverse outcome pathway concept

In light of the vulnerability of the developing brain, mixture risk assessment (MRA) for the evaluation of developmental neurotoxicity (DNT) should be implemented, since infants and children are co-exposed to ...

Authors: Francesca Pistollato, Emilio Mendoza de Gyves, Donatella Carpi, Stephanie K. Bopp, Carolina Nunes, Andrew Worth and Anna Bal-Price

Application of the Food Quality Protection Act children’s health safety factor in the U.S. EPA pesticide risk assessments

The Food Quality Protection Act of 1996, or FQPA, required the Environmental Protection Agency to set allowable levels for pesticides in a way that would “ensure that there is a reasonable certainty that no ha...

Authors: Olga V. Naidenko

Prenatal exposure to legacy contaminants and visual acuity in Canadian infants: a maternal-infant research on environmental chemicals study (MIREC-ID)

Prenatal exposure to environmental contaminants can have deleterious effects on child development. While psychomotor, cognitive and behavioural outcomes have been investigated in relation to chronic exposure, ...

Authors: C. Polevoy, T. E. Arbuckle, Y. Oulhote, B. P. Lanphear, K. A. Cockell, G. Muckle and D. Saint-Amour

Child health, household environment, temperature and rainfall anomalies in Honduras: a socio-climate data linked analysis

As climate research continues to highlight the global shifts in temperature and precipitation, more research is needed to understand how climate anomalies impact human health outcomes. In this paper, we analyz...

Authors: Cristina Bradatan, Jeffrey A. Dennis, Nadia Flores-Yeffal and Sharmistha Swain

Association of PM_2.5 concentration with health center outpatient visits for respiratory diseases of children under 5 years old in Lima, Peru

Lima is one of the more polluted cities in Latin America. High levels of PM_2.5 have been shown to increase health center outpatient visits of respiratory diseases.

Authors: Jennifer Estefanía Davila Cordova, Vilma Tapia Aguirre, Vanessa Vasquez Apestegui, Luis Ordoñez Ibarguen, Bryan N. Vu, Kyle Steenland and Gustavo F. Gonzales

Associations between indoor environmental quality in schools and symptom reporting in pupil-administered questionnaires

The associations between indoor environmental quality (IEQ) in homes and symptom reporting of children have been extensively studied, but only few large-scale studies have been done in schools. We examined ass...

Authors: Kateryna Savelieva, Tero Marttila, Jussi Lampi, Sari Ung-Lanki, Marko Elovainio and Juha Pekkanen

Intelligence gain and social cost savings attributable to environmental lead exposure reduction strategies since the year 2000 in Flanders, Belgium

Recent lead (Pb) exposure reduction strategies enabled to lower children’s blood lead levels (B-Pb) worldwide. This study reports the estimated intelligence gain and social cost savings attributable to recent ...

Authors: Sylvie Remy, Ramona Hambach, Marc Van Sprundel, Caroline Teughels, Tim S. Nawrot, Jurgen Buekers, Christa Cornelis, Liesbeth Bruckers and Greet Schoeters

Developmental fluoride neurotoxicity: an updated review

After the discovery of fluoride as a caries-preventing agent in the mid-twentieth century, fluoridation of community water has become a widespread intervention, sometimes hailed as a mainstay of modern public ...

Authors: Philippe Grandjean

Transcriptome-wide analysis of changes in the fetal placenta associated with prenatal arsenic exposure in the New Hampshire Birth Cohort Study

Increasing evidence suggests that prenatal exposure to arsenic, even at common environmental levels, adversely affects child health. These adverse effects include impaired fetal growth, which can carry serious...

Authors: Emily F. Winterbottom, Yuguang Ban, Xiaodian Sun, Anthony J. Capobianco, Carmen J. Marsit, Xi Chen, Lily Wang, Margaret R. Karagas and David J. Robbins

Time-varying associations between prenatal metal mixtures and rapid visual processing in children

Humans are exposed to mixtures of chemicals across their lifetimes, a concept sometimes called the “exposome.” Mixtures likely have temporal “critical windows” of susceptibility like single agents and measurin...

Authors: Yuri Levin-Schwartz, Chris Gennings, Lourdes Schnaas, María del Carmen Hernández Chávez, David C. Bellinger, Martha Maria Téllez-Rojo, Andrea A. Baccarelli and Robert O. Wright

Association of low-level blood lead with serum uric acid in U.S. adolescents: a cross-sectional study

Uncertainty remains regarding the association between blood lead levels (BLL) and serum uric acid (SUA) with relatively low BLL exposure because of limited data in the adolescent population. We examined the as...

Authors: Guiping Hu, Guang Jia, Shichuan Tang, Pai Zheng and Lihua Hu

Prenatal maternal and childhood bisphenol a exposure and brain structure and behavior of young children

Bisphenol A (BPA) is commonly used in the manufacture of plastics and epoxy resins. In North America, over 90% of the population has detectable levels of urinary BPA. Human epidemiological studies have reporte...

Authors: Melody N. Grohs, Jess E. Reynolds, Jiaying Liu, Jonathan W. Martin, Tyler Pollock, Catherine Lebel and Deborah Dewey

Ambient air pollution is associated with pediatric pneumonia: a time-stratified case–crossover study in an urban area

Pneumonia, the leading reason underlying childhood deaths, may be triggered or exacerbated by air pollution. To date, only a few studies have examined the association of air pollution with emergency department...

Authors: Chi-Yung Cheng, Shih-Yu Cheng, Chien-Chih Chen, Hsiu-Yung Pan, Kuan-Han Wu and Fu-Jen Cheng

Neurocognitive impact of metal exposure and social stressors among schoolchildren in Taranto, Italy

Metal exposure is a public health hazard due to neurocognitive effects starting in early life. Poor socio-economic status, adverse home and family environment can enhance the neurodevelopmental toxicity due to...

Authors: Roberto G. Lucchini, Stefano Guazzetti, Stefano Renzetti, Michele Conversano, Giuseppa Cagna, Chiara Fedrighi, Augusto Giorgino, Marco Peli, Donatella Placidi, Silvia Zoni, Giovanni Forte, Costanza Majorani, Anna Pino, Oreste Senofonte, Francesco Petrucci and Alessandro Alimonti

Prenatal plasma concentrations of Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances and neuropsychological development in children at four years of age

Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are persistent pollutants and have endocrine disruptive and neurotoxic effects. The association between maternal PFAS concentrations and neuropsychological...

Authors: Jinbo Niu, Hong Liang, Youping Tian, Wei Yuan, Hong Xiao, Hui Hu, Xiaowei Sun, Xiuxia Song, Sheng Wen, Li Yang, Yanfeng Ren and Maohua Miao

Exposure to arsenic in utero is associated with various types of DNA damage and micronuclei in newborns: a birth cohort study

Growing evidence indicates that in utero arsenic exposures in humans may increase the risk of adverse health effects and development of diseases later in life. This study aimed to evaluate potential health ris...

Authors: Panida Navasumrit, Krittinee Chaisatra, Jeerawan Promvijit, Varabhorn Parnlob, Somchamai Waraprasit, Chalida Chompoobut, Ta Thi Binh, Doan Ngoc Hai, Nguyen Duy Bao, Nguyen Khac Hai, Kyoung-Woong Kim, Leona D. Samson, Joseph H. Graziano, Chulabhorn Mahidol and Mathuros Ruchirawat

Relations between air pollution and vascular development in 5-year old children: a cross-sectional study in the Netherlands

Air pollution has been shown to promote cardiovascular disease in adults. Possible mechanisms include air pollution induced changes in arterial wall function and structure. Atherosclerotic vascular disease is ...

Authors: Anna-Maria Ntarladima, Ilonca Vaartjes, Diederick E. Grobbee, Martin Dijst, Oliver Schmitz, Cuno Uiterwaal, Geertje Dalmeijer, Cornelis van der Ent, Gerard Hoek and Derek Karssenberg

Maternal exposure to ambient fine particulate matter and fetal growth in Shanghai, China

Fetal growth restriction (FGR) is not only a major determinant of perinatal morbidity and mortality but also leads to adverse health effects in later life. Over the past decade, numerous studies have indicated...

Authors: Zhijuan Cao, Lulu Meng, Yan Zhao, Chao Liu, Yingying Yang, Xiujuan Su, Qingyan Fu, Dongfang Wang and Jing Hua

Letter to the editor re: the CDC blood lead reference value for children

Authors: Perry Gottesfeld and Deborah A. Cory-Slechta

Fluoride exposure and pubertal development in children living in Mexico City

Previous animal and ecological studies have provided evidence for an earlier sexual maturation in females in relation to fluoride exposure; however, no epidemiological studies have examined the association bet...

Authors: Yun Liu, Martha Téllez-Rojo, Howard Hu, Brisa N. Sánchez, E. Angeles Martinez-Mier, Niladri Basu, Adriana Mercado-García, Maritsa Solano-González and Karen E. Peterson

Urinary mycoestrogens and age and height at menarche in New Jersey girls

Despite evidence of the endocrine disrupting properties of zearalenone (ZEN) and alpha-zearalanol (zeranol, α-ZAL), they have been minimally studied in human populations. In previous cross-sectional analyses, ...

Authors: Zorimar Rivera-Núñez, Emily S. Barrett, Elizabeth A. Szamreta, Sue A. Shapses, Bo Qin, Yong Lin, Helmut Zarbl, Brian Buckley and Elisa V. Bandera

Exposure to prenatal secondhand smoke and early neurodevelopment: Mothers and Children’s Environmental Health (MOCEH) study

The association between exposure to secondhand smoke (SHS) during pregnancy and a child’s neurodevelopment has not been established yet. We explored the association between prenatal exposure to SHS and neurode...

Authors: Myeongjee Lee, Mina Ha, Yun-Chul Hong, Hyesook Park, Yangho Kim, Eui-Jung Kim, Yeni Kim and Eunhee Ha

Letter to the editor regarding “safety of safety evaluation of pesticides: developmental neurotoxicity of chlorpyrifos and chlorpyrifos-methyl” by Mie et al. (environmental health. 2018. 17:77)

Authors: Daland R. Juberg, Alan M. Hoberman, Sue Marty, Catherine A. Picut and Donald G. Stump

Prenatal arsenic exposure alters the placental expression of multiple epigenetic regulators in a sex-dependent manner

Prenatal exposure to arsenic has been linked to a range of adverse health conditions in later life. Such fetal origins of disease are frequently the result of environmental effects on the epigenome, leading to...

Authors: Emily F. Winterbottom, Yuka Moroishi, Yuliya Halchenko, David A. Armstrong, Paul J. Beach, Quang P. Nguyen, Anthony J. Capobianco, Nagi G. Ayad, Carmen J. Marsit, Zhigang Li, Margaret R. Karagas and David J. Robbins

Polyunsaturated fatty acids and child neurodevelopment among a population exposed to DDT: a cohort study

Child neurodevelopment has been positively linked to maternal intake of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) during pregnancy; however, it is unknown if that relationship persists among populations exposed to e...

Authors: Ángel Mérida-Ortega, Stephen J. Rothenberg, Luisa Torres-Sánchez, Lourdes Schnaas, César Hernández-Alcaraz, Mariano E. Cebrián, Rosa María García-Hernández, Rafael Ogaz-González and Lizbeth López-Carrillo

The CDC blood lead reference value for children: time for a change

The purpose of this article is to consider alternate uses of the blood lead reference value for children. There are two possible approaches. Historically the reference value has been used to guide clinical and...

Authors: Jerome A. Paulson and Mary Jean Brown

Prenatal exposure to extremely low frequency magnetic field and its impact on fetal growth

Studies on the effect of prenatal exposure to magnetic field (MF) on fetal growth is inconclusive and subject to some methodological limitations, particularly in measurement of MF exposure. The present study a...

Authors: Yanfeng Ren, Jianping Chen, Maohua Miao, De-Kun Li, Hong Liang, Ziliang Wang, Fen Yang, Xiaowei Sun and Wei Yuan

Very low-level prenatal mercury exposure and behaviors in children: the HOME Study

Mercury is toxic to the developing brain, but the lowest concentration associated with the development of behavior problems is unclear. The purpose of this study was to examine the association between very low...

Authors: Nimesh B. Patel, Yingying Xu, Lawrence C. McCandless, Aimin Chen, Kimberly Yolton, Joseph Braun, Robert L. Jones, Kim N. Dietrich and Bruce P. Lanphear

Air pollution in the week prior to delivery and preterm birth in 24 Canadian cities: a time to event analysis

Numerous studies have examined the association between air pollution and preterm birth (< 37 weeks gestation) but findings have been inconsistent. These associations may be more difficult to detect than associ...

Authors: David M. Stieb, Eric Lavigne, Li Chen, Lauren Pinault, Antonio Gasparrini and Michael Tjepkema

Maternal urinary 2-hydroxynaphthalene and birth outcomes in Taiyuan, China

Naphthalene is the simplest polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH). It is easily emitted into the atmosphere, posing a significant risk to human health. However, limited studies have described the impact of nap...

Authors: Jisheng Nie, Jinyu Li, Lin Cheng, Yanning Li, Yunjun Deng, Zhiwei Yan, Lei Duan, Qiao Niu, Frederica Perera and Deliang Tang

Associations of greenness, greyness and air pollution exposure with children’s health: a cross-sectional study in Southern Italy

Due to the complex interplay among different urban-related exposures, a comprehensive approach is advisable to estimate the health effects. We simultaneously assessed the effect of “green”, “grey” and air poll...

Authors: Giovanna Cilluffo, Giuliana Ferrante, Salvatore Fasola, Laura Montalbano, Velia Malizia, Alessandro Piscini, Vito Romaniello, Malvina Silvestri, Salvatore Stramondo, Massimo Stafoggia, Andrea Ranzi, Giovanni Viegi and Stefania La Grutta

Longitudinal associations of in utero and early life near-roadway air pollution with trajectories of childhood body mass index

Evidence suggests that childhood near-roadway air pollution (NRAP) exposures contribute to increased body mass index (BMI); however, effects of NRAP exposure during the vulnerable periods including in utero and f...

Authors: Jeniffer S. Kim, Tanya L. Alderete, Zhanghua Chen, Fred Lurmann, Ed Rappaport, Rima Habre, Kiros Berhane and Frank D. Gilliland

Environmental pollution and social factors as contributors to preterm birth in Fresno County

Environmental pollution exposure during pregnancy has been identified as a risk factor for preterm birth. Most studies have evaluated exposures individually and in limited study populations.

Authors: Amy M. Padula, Hongtai Huang, Rebecca J. Baer, Laura M. August, Marta M. Jankowska, Laura L. Jellife-Pawlowski, Marina Sirota and Tracey J. Woodruff

Occupational exposure to organic solvents during pregnancy and childhood behavior: findings from the PELAGIE birth cohort (France, 2002–2013)

Numerous industries use organic solvents, and many workers from various occupational sectors are exposed to these known neurotoxicants, including pregnant women. Our objective is to explore whether occupationa...

Authors: Nathalie Costet, Rémi Béranger, Ronan Garlantézec, Florence Rouget, Christine Monfort, Sylvaine Cordier, Fabienne Pelé and Cécile Chevrier

Air pollution and airway resistance at age 8 years – the PIAMA birth cohort study

Air pollution has been found to adversely affect children’s lung function. Forced expiratory volume in 1 s and forced vital capacity from spirometry have been studied most frequently, but measurements of airwa...

Authors: Isabelle Finke, Johan C. de Jongste, Henriette A. Smit, Alet H. Wijga, Gerard H. Koppelman, Judith Vonk, Bert Brunekreef and Ulrike Gehring

Applying methods of the global burden of diseases, injuries, and risk factors study to developmental neurotoxicants: a commentary

The purpose of this commentary is to consider whether the methods of the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) can provide accurate estimates of the impact of developmental neurotox...

Authors: David C. Bellinger

Reporting to parents on children’s exposures to asthma triggers in low-income and public housing, an interview-based case study of ethics, environmental literacy, individual action, and public health benefits

Emerging evidence about the effects of endocrine disruptors on asthma symptoms suggests new opportunities to reduce asthma by changing personal environments. Right-to-know ethics supports returning personal re...

Authors: Laura J. Perovich, Jennifer Liss Ohayon, Elicia Mayuri Cousins, Rachel Morello-Frosch, Phil Brown, Gary Adamkiewicz and Julia Green Brody

Early life swimming pool exposure and asthma onset in children – a case-control study

Trichloramine exposure in indoor swimming pools has been suggested to cause asthma in children. We aimed to investigate the risk of asthma onset among children in relation to individual trichloramine exposure.

Authors: Martin Andersson, Helena Backman, Gunnar Nordberg, Annika Hagenbjörk, Linnea Hedman, Kåre Eriksson, Bertil Forsberg and Eva Rönmark

Childhood and adolescent phenol and phthalate exposure and the age of menarche in Latina girls

The age of menarche has been associated with metabolic and cardiovascular disease, as well as cancer risk. The decline in menarcheal age over the past century may be partially attributable to increased exposur...

Authors: Alexandra M. Binder, Camila Corvalan, Antonia M. Calafat, Xiaoyun Ye, Verónica Mericq, Ana Pereira and Karin B. Michels

Early-life exposure to PM_2.5 and risk of acute asthma clinical encounters among children in Massachusetts: a case-crossover analysis

Associations between ambient particulate matter < 2.5 μm (PM_2.5) and asthma morbidity have been suggested in previous epidemiologic studies but results are inconsistent for areas with lower PM_2.5 levels. We estim...

Authors: Roxana Khalili, Scott M. Bartell, Xuefei Hu, Yang Liu, Howard H. Chang, Candice Belanoff, Matthew J. Strickland and Verónica M. Vieira

Transgenerational effects of polychlorinated biphenyls: 1. Development and physiology across 3 generations of rats

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are persistent organic environmental contaminants and known endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs). Previous studies demonstrated that developmental exposure to the weakly estro...

Authors: Jan A. Mennigen, Lindsay M. Thompson, Mandee Bell, Marlen Tellez Santos and Andrea C. Gore

Prenatal exposure to persistent organic pollutants and child overweight/obesity at 5-year follow-up: a prospective cohort study

Prenatal exposure to persistent organic pollutants (POPs), may influence offspring weight gain. More prospective epidemiological studies are needed to compliment the growing body of evidence from animal studies.

Authors: Hilde B. Lauritzen, Tricia L. Larose, Torbjørn Øien, Torkjel M. Sandanger, Jon Ø. Odland, Margot van de Bor and Geir W. Jacobsen

Prenatal exposure to perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances and childhood atopic dermatitis: a prospective birth cohort study

Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) have been reported to suppress immune function. However, previous studies on prenatal exposure to PFASs and allergic disorders in offspring provided incons...

Authors: Qian Chen, Rong Huang, Li Hua, Yifeng Guo, Lisu Huang, Yanjun Zhao, Xia Wang and Jun Zhang

Road traffic noise and children’s inattention

An increasing number of children are exposed to road traffic noise levels that may lead to adverse effects on health and daily functioning. Childhood is a period of intense growth and brain maturation, and chi...

Authors: Kjell Vegard Weyde, Norun Hjertager Krog, Bente Oftedal, Per Magnus, Simon Øverland, Stephen Stansfeld, Mark J. Nieuwenhuijsen, Martine Vrijheid, Montserrat de Castro Pascual and Gunn Marit Aasvang

Genetic and epigenetic susceptibility of airway inflammation to PM_2.5 in school children: new insights from quantile regression

The fractional concentration of exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) is a biomarker of airway inflammation that has proved to be useful in investigations of genetic and epigenetic airway susceptibility to ambient air p...

Authors: Yue Zhang, Muhammad T. Salam, Kiros Berhane, Sandrah P. Eckel, Edward B. Rappaport, William S. Linn, Rima Habre, Theresa M. Bastain and Frank D. Gilliland

Maternal occupational exposure and oral clefts in offspring

Previous studies suggest that periconceptional maternal occupational exposure to solvents and pesticides increase the risk of oral clefts in the offspring. Less is known about the effect of occupational exposu...

Authors: Nynke Spinder, Jorieke E. H. Bergman, H. Marike Boezen, Roel C. H. Vermeulen, Hans Kromhout and Hermien E. K. de Walle

Genome-wide gene by lead exposure interaction analysis identifies UNC5D as a candidate gene for neurodevelopment

Neurodevelopment is a complex process involving both genetic and environmental factors. Prenatal exposure to lead (Pb) has been associated with lower performance on neurodevelopmental tests. Adverse neurodevel...

Authors: Zhaoxi Wang, Birgit Claus Henn, Chaolong Wang, Yongyue Wei, Li Su, Ryan Sun, Han Chen, Peter J. Wagner, Quan Lu, Xihong Lin, Robert Wright, David Bellinger, Molly Kile, Maitreyi Mazumdar, Martha Maria Tellez-Rojo, Lourdes Schnaas…

Urinary bisphenol A and pubertal development in Chinese school-aged girls: a cross-sectional study

Animal studies suggest that bisphenol A (BPA) may perturb pubertal development in females. However, evidence from human studies is limited.

Authors: Maohua Miao, Ziliang Wang, Xiaoqin Liu, Hong Liang, Zhijun Zhou, Hui Tan, Wei Yuan and De-Kun Li

Prenatal and postnatal bisphenol A exposure and social impairment in 4-year-old children

Prenatal and postnatal exposure to bisphenol A (BPA) may affect early brain development. Rodent studies suggest that prenatal and postnatal neurodevelopmental toxicity from BPA exposure may manifest as social ...

Authors: Youn-Hee Lim, Sanghyuk Bae, Bung-Nyun Kim, Choong Ho Shin, Young Ah Lee, Johanna Inhyang Kim and Yun-Chul Hong