Assessing the causal effects of long-term exposure to PM 2.5 during pregnancy on cognitive function in the adolescence: Evidence from a nationwide cohort in China

The effects of air pollution on adolescents need further consideration. Although there is evidence that maternal exposure to air pollution may affect the cognitive function of offspring, relevant studies remain limited and inconsistent, with a lack of studies assessing the causal effects and evidenc...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental pollution (1987) 2022-01, Vol.293, p.118560
Main Authors: Xu, Zongyou, Liu, Zhenmi, Lu, Liyong, Liao, Weibin, Yang, Chenyu, Duan, Zhongxin, Zhou, Qian, He, Wenchong, Zhang, En, Li, Ningxiu, Ju, Ke
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Air Pollutants - analysis
China
Cognition
Cohort Studies
Female
Humans
Particulate Matter - analysis
Pregnancy
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Summary:The effects of air pollution on adolescents need further consideration. Although there is evidence that maternal exposure to air pollution may affect the cognitive function of offspring, relevant studies remain limited and inconsistent, with a lack of studies assessing the causal effects and evidence from developing countries. Using data from Chinese Family Panel Studies, a representative Chinese nationwide cohort study, OLS combined with instrumental variable + two-stage least square (IV+2SLS) was used to explore the causal effects of exposure to PM concentrations during pregnancy on the cognitive function of offspring when they become adolescents. After detailed argumentation and multiple testing, Planetary Boundary Layer Height (PBLH) and Surface Pressure (SP) were selected as the instrumental variables for this study. One thousand five hundred fifty-five adolescents participated in this study, with a mean age of 13.3 years (sd = 2.3). There were 706 females (45.4%), the mean maternal PM exposure concentration was 64.9 μg/m , and recorded a mean cognitive function score of 38.1 (sd = 9.4). The OLS results found that maternal exposure to air pollution increased cognitive function in offspring adolescents, corroborating the presence of endogeneity. Multi-domain knowledge, the results of the weak instrumental variable assessments of F-tests (F = 237 > 10) and Stock-yogo tests (minimum eigenvalue statistic = 153.16 > 16.38), and the results of the Hansen J overidentification test (p > 0.05) verified the plausibility and validity of the instrumental variables. The IV+2SLS results, following causal modeling, showed that PM exposure during pregnancy impairs the cognitive ability of offspring adolescents (β = -0.040, p 
ISSN:1873-6424