Green space, air pollution, traffic noise and cardiometabolic health in adolescents: The PIAMA birth cohort

Lizan D Bloemsma; Ulrike Gehring; Jochem O Klompmaker; Gerard Hoek; Nicole A H Janssen; Erik Lebret; Bert Brunekreef; Alet H Wijga

doi:10.1016/j.envint.2019.104991

Green space, air pollution, traffic noise and cardiometabolic health in adolescents: The PIAMA birth cohort

Environ Int. 2019 Oct:131:104991. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2019.104991. Epub 2019 Jul 11.

Authors

Lizan D Bloemsma¹, Ulrike Gehring², Jochem O Klompmaker³, Gerard Hoek², Nicole A H Janssen⁴, Erik Lebret³, Bert Brunekreef⁵, Alet H Wijga⁴

Affiliations

¹ National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Bilthoven, the Netherlands; Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences (IRAS), Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands. Electronic address: lizan.bloemsma@rivm.nl.
² Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences (IRAS), Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
³ National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Bilthoven, the Netherlands; Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences (IRAS), Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
⁴ National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Bilthoven, the Netherlands.
⁵ Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences (IRAS), Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands; Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, the Netherlands.

PMID: 31302482
DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2019.104991

Abstract

Background: Green space has been hypothesized to improve cardiometabolic health of adolescents, whereas air pollution and traffic noise may negatively impact cardiometabolic health.

Objectives: To examine the associations of green space, air pollution and traffic noise with cardiometabolic health in adolescents aged 12 and 16 years.

Methods: Waist circumference, blood pressure, cholesterol and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) were measured in subsets of participants of the Dutch PIAMA birth cohort, who participated in medical examinations at ages 12 (n = 1505) and/or 16 years (n = 797). We calculated a combined cardiometabolic risk score for each participant, with a higher score indicating a higher cardiometabolic risk. We estimated exposure to green space (i.e. the average Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and percentages of green space in circular buffers of 300 m and 3000 m), air pollution (by land-use regression models) and traffic noise (using the Standard Model Instrumentation for Noise Assessments (STAMINA) model) at the adolescents' home addresses at the time of the medical examinations. We assessed associations of these exposures with cardiometabolic health outcomes at ages 12 and 16 by multiple linear regression, adjusting for potential confounders.

Results: We did not observe consistent patterns of associations of green space, air pollution and traffic noise with the cardiometabolic risk score, blood pressure, total cholesterol levels, the total/HDL cholesterol ratio and HbA1c. We found inverse associations of air pollution with waist circumference at both age 12 and 16. These associations weakened after adjustment for region, except for particulate matter with a diameter of <2.5 μm (PM_2.5) at age 12. The association of PM_2.5 with waist circumference at age 12 remained after adjustment for green space and road traffic noise (adjusted difference - 1.42 cm [95% CI -2.50, -0.35 cm] per 1.16 μg/m³ increase in PM_2.5).

Conclusion: This study does not provide evidence for beneficial effects of green space or adverse effects of air pollution and traffic noise on cardiometabolic health in adolescents.

Keywords: Blood pressure; Cholesterol; Environmental exposures; Glycated hemoglobin; Waist circumference.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Air Pollution / adverse effects*
Blood Pressure
Cardiovascular Diseases / epidemiology*
Cardiovascular Diseases / etiology
Cholesterol / blood
Cohort Studies
Environment*
Female
Hemoglobins / analysis
Humans
Male
Motor Vehicles
Netherlands / epidemiology
Noise / adverse effects*
Risk Assessment
Waist Circumference

Substances

Hemoglobins
Cholesterol