Abstract
Evidence suggests that environmental exposures and socioeconomic factors may interact to produce metabolic changes in children. We assessed the influence of residential location and socioeconomic status (SES) on pediatric body mass index (BMI) Z-score and fasting blood glucose (FBG) concentration. Participants included 214 children aged 6–11 years who live near a large industrial complex in Taranto, Italy. Participants were grouped into residential zones based on the distance between their home address and the complex periphery (Zone 1: 0.000–4.999 km, Zone 2: 5.000–9.999 km, Zone 3: 10.000–15.000 km). BMI Z-scores were calculated via World Health Organization (WHO) pediatric reference curves. FBG was obtained via venous blood sampling. Closer residential location to the industrial complex on the order of 5.000 km was significantly associated with worsened metabolic outcomes, particularly in female children. Zone 1 participants had higher BMI-adjusted FBG than Zone 2 and 3 participants (p < 0.05 versus Zone 2; p < 0.01 versus Zone 3). SES did not significantly influence BMI-adjusted FBG. Moreover, BMI Z-scores indicated high rates of overweight (22.0%) and obesity (22.9%) in the cohort. BMI Z-score was not significantly associated with SES or residential zone but was negatively associated with maternal education level (p < 0.05). These results offer new evidence that residing near industrial activity may predict adverse effects on child metabolic health.
Highlights
Exposure to industrial pollutants is a serious environmental health problem, as it affects children
Z-score were not associated with FBG. These results show that residential location with respect to the industrial complex influenced children’s FBG levels; they suggest that the presence of the industrial complex plays a role in the corporeally elevated fasting blood glucose of children in the surrounding area
Our study found that greater residential proximity to an industrial complex was associated with significant increases in FBG concentration among a cohort of primary school children in Taranto, Italy
Summary
Exposure to industrial pollutants is a serious environmental health problem, as it affects children. Many of the pediatric metabolic conditions linked to environmental exposure have been studied and found to be associated with specific sociodemographic conditions. This is true for the Mediterranean region of Europe, where childhood obesity is increasing at alarming rates [4,5,6,7]. A recent study of 15,035 Italian schoolchildren aged 11–15 years found 21.8% of boys and 13.3% of girls to be overweight or obese in 2014 [9] These findings agree with prior literature, which associates childhood obesity with low socioeconomic status (SES) and low maternal education level [5,8,9,10]. Childhood obesity has been linked to cognitive conditions, including ADHD, risky behavior, and antisocial behavior [11,12]
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