Frequent occurrence of respiratory symptoms in children is associated with exposure to air pollution, land use types, and parental mental health in the Greater Taipei area

Ming-Lun Zou; Chuen-Bin Jiang; Yi-Hua Chen; Chih-Da Wu; Shih-Chun Candice Lung; Ling-Chu Chien; Kraiwuth Kallawicha; Yu-Chun Lo; Hsing Jasmine Chao

doi:10.1016/j.envres.2021.112567

Frequent occurrence of respiratory symptoms in children is associated with exposure to air pollution, land use types, and parental mental health in the Greater Taipei area

Environ Res. 2022 Apr 15:206:112567. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2021.112567. Epub 2021 Dec 18.

Authors

Ming-Lun Zou¹, Chuen-Bin Jiang², Yi-Hua Chen³, Chih-Da Wu⁴, Shih-Chun Candice Lung⁵, Ling-Chu Chien³, Kraiwuth Kallawicha⁶, Yu-Chun Lo⁷, Hsing Jasmine Chao⁸

Affiliations

¹ School of Public Health, College of Public Health, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan.
² Department of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, MacKay Children's Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan; Department of Medicine, MacKay Medical College, New Taipei City, Taiwan.
³ School of Public Health, College of Public Health, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan; Neuroscience Research Center, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁴ Department of Geomatics, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan; National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Health Research Institute, Miaoli, Taiwan.
⁵ Research Center for Environmental Changes, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁶ College of Public Health Sciences, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand.
⁷ Neuroscience Research Center, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan; Ph.D. Program for Neural Regenerative Medicine, College of Medical Science and Technology, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁸ School of Public Health, College of Public Health, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan; Neuroscience Research Center, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan. Electronic address: hchao@tmu.edu.tw.

PMID: 34932981
DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2021.112567

Abstract

Although studies have investigated the individual effects of air pollution, land use types, and parental mental health on children's respiratory health, few studies have examined the effects of these risk factors simultaneously in children aged <2 years. We investigated the effects of exposure to air pollution, land use types surrounding residences, and parental mental health on the frequent occurrence of respiratory symptoms in children aged <2 years in the Greater Taipei area. Participants were recruited from an ongoing Taiwanese birth cohort study. We analyzed the data of the participants who had been recruited from January 2011 to April 2014 and had responded to the follow-up questionnaires at 6, 12, and 24 months. Self-administered questionnaires were used to collect participants' sociodemographic background and health, such as respiratory symptoms, and parental mental health. Pre- and postnatal pollution levels were estimated using the spatial interpolation technique (ordinary kriging) at children's residential addresses. Land use types surrounding participants' homes were evaluated by performing buffer analysis. Multiple logistic regression analyses were conducted to examine the effects of risk factors on the frequent occurrence of child respiratory symptoms in children aged 6, 12, and 24 months. We included 228, 360, and 441 children aged 6, 12, and 24 months, respectively. Our results indicated that postnatal exposure to PM_2.5 and O₃ was positively associated with children's respiratory symptoms. Traffic-related land-use types, sports facilities, and commercial land surrounding homes exerted adverse effects on children's respiratory symptoms, whereas the presence of schools in the neighborhood was beneficial. Parental mental health was also associated with children's respiratory symptoms. Postnatal exposure to air pollution and land use types surrounding residences were associated with respiratory health in children aged <2 years. The residential environment is a critical factor affecting children's respiratory health of children aged <2 years.

Keywords: Air pollution; Children respiratory symptoms; Land-use types; Parental mental health.

Publication types

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

MeSH terms

Air Pollutants* / analysis
Air Pollutants* / toxicity
Air Pollution* / analysis
Air Pollution* / statistics & numerical data
Child
Child, Preschool
Cohort Studies
Environmental Exposure / analysis
Environmental Exposure / statistics & numerical data
Humans
Mental Health
Risk Factors

Substances

Air Pollutants