Publicity to air air pollution throughout being pregnant, particularly to high-quality particulate matter (PM2.5), could enhance the chance of childhood obese or weight problems. That is the conclusion of a giant, pan-European meta-analysis examine led by the Barcelona Institute for International Well being (ISGlobal), a middle supported by the “la Caixa” Basis, and not too long ago revealed in Setting Worldwide. The examine examined the connection between publicity to air pollution throughout being pregnant and through childhood, and its affect on physique mass index (BMI) and the chance of obese or weight problems all through childhood.
The examine is a part of the LifeCycle and ATHLETE initiatives, funded by the European Union, with the purpose to guage how youth environmental stressors have an effect on well being over time. For this analysis, knowledge have been collected from moms and kids from 10 delivery cohorts in 8 European international locations. In complete, 37,111 mother-child pairs participated through the prenatal interval and 33,860 through the childhood stage.
The analysis workforce calculated being pregnant and annual common concentrations of nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) and high-quality particulate matter (PM2.5) on the household’s place of residence utilizing geospatial fashions. The examine lined air air pollution exposures from being pregnant till the kids reached 12 years of age. Kids’s top, weight and age have been obtained via medical assessments or parental experiences, and used to calculate BMI. Then, cohort-specific associations between air air pollution publicity and childhood weight problems outcomes have been estimated and pooled collectively in a meta-analysis of all cohorts.
Increased danger of obese or weight problems in childhood
Publicity to greater ranges of PM2.5 throughout being pregnant was related to a 23% elevated danger of childhood obese or weight problems. This affiliation was strongest within the 9–12 12 months age group. Nevertheless, the examine didn’t observe any associations with publicity to PM2.5 throughout childhood, nor with NO₂ publicity throughout being pregnant or childhood.
Our outcomes point out that the gestational interval could characterize a very weak window for the chance of childhood weight problems. Nevertheless, additional analysis is required to exactly determine the vital intervals throughout which publicity to air air pollution may affect this danger, and to verify these findings.”
Sarah Warkentin, Isglobal Researcher and FIRST AUTHOR OF THE STUDY
“The organic mechanisms which will clarify the connection between publicity to air air pollution and weight acquire in youngsters usually are not but absolutely understood. In earlier research, publicity to air pollution throughout being pregnant has been linked to decreased fetal progress and low delivery weight. This can be on account of oxidative stress, irritation, issues in placental growth, or hormonal disruptions. These identical processes might additionally have an effect on progress and enhance the chance of weight problems throughout childhood, as proven in animal research,” explains Martine Vrijheid, director of ISGlobal’s Setting and Well being over the Lifecourse programme and senior writer of the examine.
Heterogeneity amongst cohorts
The outcomes confirmed that the associations between air pollution and childhood weight problems outcomes differed considerably between the completely different cohorts. As an illustration, prenatal and postnatal publicity to PM2.5 was related to a decrease BMI in any respect ages in UK cohorts, whereas childhood publicity to PM2.5 and NO₂ was related to the next BMI in a Dutch cohort.
“This heterogeneity could possibly be on account of various ranges of air air pollution publicity among the many cohorts, attainable variations in youngsters’s way of life habits in every nation, which might affect their publicity to air air pollution and, in flip, their weight, in addition to different elements particular to every metropolis’s atmosphere,” says Martine Vrijheid.
Supply:
Barcelona Institute for International Well being (ISGlobal)
Journal reference:
Warkentin, S., et al. (2025). Ambient air air pollution and childhood weight problems from infancy to late childhood: A person participant knowledge meta-analysis of 10 European delivery cohorts. Setting Worldwide. doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2025.109527.
