A recently published study used administrative data of births in Metro Vancouver between 2000 and 2001 on ADHD cases from hospital records, prescriptions, and physician visits.
A EurekAlert report specified that children residing in sites that have higher air population because of PM2.5 particles and extremely low levels of green space might have a maximum of 62 percent increased risk of developing ADHD.
In contrast, children who live in a greener and not so polluted places ha a 50-percent lower risk of developing the syndrome. The study was led by researcher Matilda van den Bosch, from the Barcelona Institute for Global Health or ISGlobal, a center backed by the "la Caixa" Foundation.
ALSO READ: South Asia's Worsening Air Pollution Is Causing Pregnancy Loss, Study
Children living in greener neighborhoods with low air populations had a significantly decreased risk of developing ADHD.
Link Between Exposure to Greenness and Pollution to ADHD Occurrence
These said findings are the conclusions of the study published in Environment International with data from 37,000 Vancouver, Canada children. The objective of this scientific research was to examine the probable links between exposure to greenness, noise, and air pollution in early life with later ADHD occurrence, one of the most predominant neurodevelopmental disorders affecting a maximum of roughly five to 10 percent of children and adolescents.
Essentially, the percentage of green space in the neighborhood of the participants was approximated with a novel and accurate satellite metric, whereas the residential levels of two air pollutants known as NO2 and PM2.5, as well as noise, were approximated with the use of available exposure models.
Lastly, the probable links between the three environmental exposures and ADHD were evaluated using a statistical model that enabled determining of hazard ratios.
Green Space Analysis
In this study, the study authors were able to identify more than 1,200 ADHD cases, equivalent to 4.2 percent of the total study population. Analysis of the green space showed that participants who resided in sites with a greater vegetation percentage had a lower risk of developing ADHD.
More specifically, the findings revealed that an increase of 12 percent in vegetation percentage was linked to a 10-percent decline in the risk of developing the disorder.
When it comes to air population, the opposite link was observed with PM2.5: participants who had higher exposure to fine particles had a higher risk of developing ADHD, an 11-percent increase in the risk of the syndrome.
A similar Medical Xpress report specified that no links were identified for the rest of the environmental exposures examined, specifically, NO2 and noise. The results are consistent with past studies, which identified links between air pollution and green space respectively, the condition.
Nonetheless, most of the studies conducted until now focused on the assessment of single exposures and seldom evaluated joint impacts of multiple environmental exposures.
'Environmental Discrimination'
According to the study's lead author Matilda van den Bosch, they observed that children residing in greener neighborhoods with low air populations had a significantly decreased risk of developing ADHD.
She added, this is environmental discrimination, in turn, those children who live in areas that have higher pollution and less greenness are facing a "disproportionally greater risk."
Such associations are specifically relevant since exposures occur in early life, a critical period for brain development where children are particularly susceptible.
Importantly, these exposures are adaptable which means the results need to be taken into account for "healthier urban planning," explained the lead author.
Commenting on the study findings, researcher Weiran Yuchi, from the University of British Columbia, Canada, the study's first author said they show that the links between PM2.5 and ADHD were weakened by "residential green space and vice versa," as if the advantageous impacts of vegetation and the harmful impacts of PM2.5 neutralized each other.
Related information about the link between pollution and ADHD in children is shown on DailyRx's YouTube video below:
RELATED ARTICLE: Harvard Researchers Link Particulate Matter from Air Pollution to Neurodegenerative Diseases
Check out more news and information on Air Pollution and Neurology in Science Times.
