Abstract
Air pollution, noise, and green space are important environmental exposures, having been linked to a variety of specific health outcomes. However, there are few studies addressing overall early life development. To assess their effects, associations between developmental milestones for a large population of 0–4-year old children in The Netherlands and environmental exposures were explored. Developmental milestones and background characteristics were provided by Preventive Child Health Care (PCHC) and supplemented with data from Statistics Netherlands. Milestones were summarized and standardized into an aggregate score measuring global development. Four age groups were selected. Environmental exposures were assigned to geocoded addresses using publicly available maps for PM2.5, PM10, PMcoarse, NO2, EC, road traffic noise, and green space. Associations were investigated using single and multiple-exposure logistic regression models. 43,916 PCHC visits by 29,524 children were available. No consistent associations were found for air pollution and road traffic noise. Green space was positively associated in single and multiple-exposure models although it was not significant in all age groups (OR 1.01 (0.95; 1.08) (1 year) to 1.07 (1.01; 1.14) (2 years)). No consistent associations were found between air pollution, road traffic noise, and global child development. A positive association of green space was indicated.
Highlights
Our physical environment exposes us to numerous factors affecting our health on a daily basis
Most visits fell in the one year age group (12.918), followed by 9919, 9849, and 11,230 visits respectively for 2 years, 3 years, and 3 years 9 months
We have found no consistent associations between global development in 0–4-year old children (DAZ) and environmental factors
Summary
Our physical environment exposes us to numerous factors affecting our health on a daily basis. The World Health Organization (WHO) states that children are more susceptible for these factors, as they are constantly growing and developing [1]. The Global Burden of Disease Study has shown that significant health benefits can be achieved by reducing environmental exposures [2]. As burdens afflicted and benefits gained early on in life will have long lasting impacts, we would ideally decrease the impact of environmental exposures in very young children where positive changes will have the longest impact. Road traffic noise, and green space are important environmental exposures in modern urban settings, having been linked to a variety of specific health outcomes [3].
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