Association of exposure to air pollution and telomere length in preschool children

Alireza Moslem, Abolfazl Rad, Paula de Prado Bert, Ahmad Alahabadi, Hamideh Ebrahimi Aval, Mohammad Miri*, Abdolmajid Gholizadeh, Mohammad Hassan Ehrampoush, Jordi Sunyer, Tim S. Nawrot, Mohammad Miri*, Payam Dadvand

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer-review

23 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Exposure to air pollution is associated with adverse health effects; however, the available evidence of its association with telomere length (TL), an early marker of ageing, in children is still scarce with no study available for preschool children. This study aimed to investigate the association of exposure to air pollution and traffic indicators at home and kindergarten with relative leukocyte TL (LTL) in preschool children. This cross-sectional study included 200 preschool children (5–7 years old) recruited from 27 kindergartens in Sabzevar, Iran (2017). Outdoor annual average levels PM1, PM2.5, and PM10 at residential address and kindergartens were estimated applying land use regression (LUR) models. Moreover, indoor levels of PMs at kindergartens were measured for four days in each season resulting in a total of 16 days of measurements for each kindergarten. Total streets length in different buffers and distance to major road were calculated as traffic indicators at residential address and kindergartens. We applied quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) to measure relative LTL in blood samples obtained from children. Mixed linear regression models were developed with qPCR plate and kindergarten as random effects, to estimate association of each pollutant and traffic indicator with LTL, controlled for relevant covariates. Higher concentrations of outdoor PM1, PM2.5, and PM10, at home and kindergartens were associated with shorter relative LTL. Similarly, increase in indoor PM2.5 concentrations at kindergartens was associated with shorter relative LTL (β = −0.18, 95% CI: −0.36, −0.01, P-value < 0.01). Moreover, higher total street length in 100 m buffer around residence and lower residential distance to major roads were associated with shorter relative LTL (β = −0.25, 95% CI: −0.37, −0.13, P-value < 0.01, and 0.32, 95% CI: 0.20, 0.44, P-value < 0.01, respectively). Overall, our study suggested that higher exposure to air pollution and traffic at kindergarten and residential home were associated with shorter relative LTL in preschool children.

Original languageEnglish
Article number137933
JournalScience of the total environment
Volume722
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 20 Jun 2020

Keywords

  • Air pollution
  • Kindergarten
  • Preschool children
  • Telomere length

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