Air pollution and attention in Polish schoolchildren with and without ADHD

Mikołaj Compa; Clemens Baumbach; Katarzyna Kaczmarek-Majer; Dorota Buczyłowska; Gabriela Oliwia Gradys; Krzysztof Skotak; Anna Degórska; Jakub Bratkowski; Maja Wierzba-Łukaszyk; Yarema Mysak; Katarzyna Sitnik-Warchulska; Małgorzata Lipowska; Bernadetta Izydorczyk; James Grellier; Dariusz Asanowicz; Iana Markevych; Marcin Szwed

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.164759

Air pollution and attention in Polish schoolchildren with and without ADHD

Sci Total Environ. 2023 Sep 20:892:164759. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.164759. Epub 2023 Jun 9.

Authors

Mikołaj Compa¹, Clemens Baumbach², Katarzyna Kaczmarek-Majer³, Dorota Buczyłowska², Gabriela Oliwia Gradys⁴, Krzysztof Skotak⁵, Anna Degórska⁵, Jakub Bratkowski⁵, Maja Wierzba-Łukaszyk², Yarema Mysak², Katarzyna Sitnik-Warchulska⁶, Małgorzata Lipowska⁷, Bernadetta Izydorczyk², James Grellier⁸, Dariusz Asanowicz², Iana Markevych⁹, Marcin Szwed¹⁰

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland; Jagiellonian University, Doctoral School of Social Sciences, Poland.
² Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland.
³ Institute of Environmental Protection, National Research Institute, Warsaw, Poland; Systems Research Institute, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland.
⁴ University of Gdansk, Gdansk, Poland.
⁵ Institute of Environmental Protection, National Research Institute, Warsaw, Poland.
⁶ Faculty of Management and Social Communication, , Institute of Applied Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland.
⁷ University of Gdansk, Gdansk, Poland; Faculty of Management and Social Communication, , Institute of Applied Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland.
⁸ Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland; European Centre for Environment and Human Health, University of Exeter, Truro, United Kingdom.
⁹ Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland; Health and quality of life in a green and sustainable environment", SRIPD, Medical University of Plovdiv, Plovdiv, Bulgaria. Electronic address: iana.markevych@uj.edu.pl.
¹⁰ Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland. Electronic address: m.szwed@uj.edu.pl.

PMID: 37302611
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.164759

Abstract

Background: Development and functioning of attention-a key component of human cognition-can be affected by environmental factors. We investigated whether long- and short-term exposure to particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter < 10 μm (PM₁₀) and nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) are related to attention in 10- to 13-year-old children living in Polish towns recruited in the NeuroSmog case-control study.

Methods: We investigated associations between air pollution and attention separately in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD, n = 187), a sensitive, at-risk population with impaired attention and in population-based typically developing children (TD, n = 465). Alerting, orienting, and executive aspects of attention were measured using the attention network test (ANT), while inhibitory control was measured with the continuous performance test (CPT). We assessed long-term exposure to NO₂ and PM₁₀ using novel hybrid land use regression (LUR) models. Short-term exposures to NO₂ and PM₁₀ were assigned to each subject using measurements taken at the air pollution monitoring station nearest to their home address. We tested associations for each exposure-outcome pair using adjusted linear and negative binomial regressions.

Results: We found that long-term exposures to both NO₂ and PM₁₀ were associated with worse visual attention in children with ADHD. Short-term exposure to NO₂ was associated with less efficient executive attention in TD children and more errors in children with ADHD. It was also associated with shorter CPT response times in TD children; however, this effect was accompanied by a trend towards more CPT commission errors, suggestive of more impulsive performance in these subjects. Finally, we found that short-term PM₁₀ exposure was associated with fewer omission errors in CPT in TD children.

Conclusions: Exposure to air pollution, especially short-term exposure to NO₂, may have a negative impact on attention in children. In sensitive populations, this impact might be different than in the general population.

Keywords: ADHD; ANT; Air pollution; Attention; CPT; Child development; Executive control; Inhibitory control.

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Air Pollutants* / analysis
Air Pollution* / analysis
Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity* / epidemiology
Case-Control Studies
Child
Environmental Exposure / analysis
Humans
Nitrogen Dioxide / analysis
Particulate Matter / analysis
Poland / epidemiology

Substances

Air Pollutants
Nitrogen Dioxide
Particulate Matter