Air Pollution, Maternal Stress Hinders Brain Development in Children, Study

Exposure to air pollution along with stress during pregnancy could negatively affect child's brain development, a new study reported.

The study was conducted by researchers at Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health at the Mailman School of Public Health. They found that the risk of developing behavioural problems such as anxiety, aggression was higher in children, whose mothers were psychologically stressed and were exposed to high levels of air pollution during pregnancy.

Previous research has shown that stress and air pollution can independently affect a child's health. Therefore, this comes as no surprise that both the factors could cause behavioural problems in children. Note that air pollution here refers to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), which are chemicals released from burning oil, gasoline, coal or tobacco.

The study was based on data from 248 mother-child pairs. Information from the participants was collected from pregnancy to nine years. Researchers looked at levels of chemicals present in air samples collected during pregnancy to assess prenatal exposure to air pollution.

Children's behaviour at nine years of age was tested using the Child Behavioral Checklist. Mothers' psychological state during pregnancy was ascertained through a questionnaire about their socioeconomic condition and hardships faced while they were in their second trimester.

Study results showed that kids exposed to both stress and pollution were at higher risk of developing behavioural problems including anxiety, depression, aggression and poor attention span.

"This study shows that the combination of physical and psychosocial stressors during fetal development magnifies the effect of each exposure. The findings are of concern because attention problems and anxiety and depression have been shown to affect peer relationships, academic performance, and future well- being of children," said Frederica Perera, PhD, director of the Center and lead author of the study, according to a news release.

The study is published in the journal Pediatrics.