Associations between Prenatal and Early-Life Air Pollution Exposure and Lung Function in Young Children: Exploring Influential Windows of Exposure on Lung Development

Abstract

Background: Evidence in the literature suggests that air pollution exposures experienced prenatally and early in life can be detrimental to normal lung development, however the specific timing of critical windows during development is not fully understood.Objectives: We evaluated air pollution exposures during the prenatal and early-life period in association with lung function at ages 6-9, in an effort to identify potentially influential windows of exposure for lung development.

Methods: Our study population consisted of 222 children aged 6-9 from the Fresno-Clovis metro area in California with spirometry data collected between May 2015 and May 2017. We used distributed-lag non-linear models to flexibly model the exposure-lag-response for monthly average exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and ozone (O3) during the prenatal months and first three years of life in association with forced vital capacity (FVC), and forced expiratory volume in the first second (FEV1), adjusted for covariates.

Results: PM 2.5 exposure during the prenatal period and the first 3-years of life was associated with lower FVC and FEV­ 1 assessed at ages 6-9. Specifically, an increase from the 5 th percentile of the observed monthly average exposure (7.55 μg/m3) to the median observed exposure (12.69 μg/m3) for the duration of the window was associated with 0.42 L lower FVC (95% confidence interval (CI): -0.81, -0.03) and 0.38 L lower FEV 1 (95% CI: -0.74, -0.01). The shape of the lag-response indicated that the second half of pregnancy may be a particularly influential window of exposure. Associations for ozone were not as strong and typically CIs included the null.

Conclusion: Our findings indicate that prenatal and early-life exposures to PM 2.5 are associated with decreased lung function later in childhood. Exposures during the latter months of pregnancy may be especially influential.

Note:
Funding Information: This work was supported by the National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences [grant numbers: NIEHS R00 ES027511, NIEHS R24 ES03088, NIEHS P01ES022849 ] and by the US Environmental Protection Agency [grant number: EPAR834596/].

Conflict of Interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Ethical Approval: All study protocols were approved by the Institutional Review Boards at the University of California, Berkeley, the University of California, San Francisco-Fresno (UCSF Fresno), and Stanford University. Written, informed permission was obtained from each accompanying parent or guardian and written child assent for participation was also obtained.

Keywords: Air pollution, Lung function, influential windows of exposure, distributed lag-models