ISGlobal, Barcelona, Spain; Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), Barcelona, Spain; CIBER Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Spain.
ISGlobal, Barcelona, Spain; Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), Barcelona, Spain; CIBER Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Spain; Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry/Psychology, Erasmus MC, Erasmus University Medical Centre, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
Environ Pollut. 2022 Nov 15;313:120109. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2022.120109. Epub 2022 Sep 22.
Air pollution exposure during early-life is associated with altered brain development, but the precise periods of susceptibility are unknown. We aimed to investigate whether there are periods of susceptibility of air pollution between conception and preadolescence in relation to white matter microstructure and brain volumes at 9-12 years old. We used data of 3515 children from the Generation R Study, a population-based birth cohort from Rotterdam, the Netherlands (2002-2006). We estimated daily levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM2.5absorbance) at participants' homes during pregnancy and childhood using land-use regression models. Diffusion tensor and structural brain images were obtained when children were 9-12 years of age, and we calculated fractional anisotropy and mean diffusivity, and several brain structure volumes. We performed distributed lag non-linear modeling adjusting for socioeconomic and lifestyle characteristics. We observed specific periods of susceptibility to all air pollutants from conception to age 5 years in association with lower fractional anisotropy and higher mean diffusivity that survived correction for multiple testing (e.g., -0.85 fractional anisotropy (95%CI -1.43; -0.27) per 5 μg/m increase in PM2.5 between conception and 4 years of age). We also observed certain periods of susceptibility to some air pollutants in relation to global brain and some subcortical brain volumes, but only the association between PM2.5 and putamen survived correction for multiple testing (172 mm (95%CI 57; 286) per 5 μg/m increase in PM2.5 between 4 months and 1.8 year of age). This study suggested that conception, pregnancy, infancy, toddlerhood, and early childhood seem to be susceptible periods to air pollution exposure for the development of white matter microstructure and the putamen volume. Longitudinal studies with repeated brain outcome measurements are needed for understanding the trajectories and the long-term effects of exposure to air pollution.
空气污染暴露在生命早期与大脑发育改变有关，但确切的易感期尚不清楚。我们旨在研究从受孕到青春期前的空气污染易感期，与 9-12 岁时的白质微观结构和脑容量之间是否存在关联。我们使用了来自荷兰鹿特丹的基于人群的出生队列 Generation R 研究中的 3515 名儿童的数据（2002-2006 年）。我们使用基于土地利用的回归模型，估计了孕妇和儿童时期参与者家中的每日二氧化氮（NO2）和颗粒物（PM2.5 和 PM2.5 吸光度）水平。当儿童 9-12 岁时，我们获得了弥散张量和结构脑图像，并计算了各向异性分数和平均扩散系数以及一些脑结构体积。我们进行了分布式滞后非线性建模，调整了社会经济和生活方式特征。我们观察到，从受孕到 5 岁期间，所有空气污染物都存在特定的易感期，与较低的各向异性分数和较高的平均扩散系数相关，这些结果在进行多次检验校正后仍然存在（例如，受孕至 4 岁期间，PM2.5 每增加 5μg/m，各向异性分数降低 0.85（95%CI-1.43；-0.27））。我们还观察到，某些空气污染物与大脑整体和某些皮质下脑区体积之间存在一定的易感期，但只有 PM2.5 与壳核之间的关联在进行多次检验校正后仍然存在（受孕至 1.8 岁期间，PM2.5 每增加 5μg/m，壳核体积增加 172mm（95%CI 57；286））。本研究表明，受孕、妊娠、婴儿期、学步期和幼儿期似乎是空气污染暴露对白质微观结构和壳核体积发育产生影响的易感期。需要进行纵向研究，重复进行脑结局测量，以了解暴露于空气污染的轨迹和长期影响。
