Air pollution, traffic noise, mental health, and cognitive development: a multi-exposure longitudinal study of London Adolescents in the SCAMP cohort

TY - JOUR

T1 - Air pollution, traffic noise, mental health, and cognitive development: a multi-exposure longitudinal study of London Adolescents in the SCAMP cohort

AU - Thompson, R

AU - Stewart, Gregor

AU - Vu, Tuan

AU - Jephcote, C

AU - Lim, Shanon

AU - Barratt, Benjamin

AU - Smith, R.B.

AU - Karim, Yasmin Bou

AU - Mussa, Aamirah

AU - Mudway, Ian

AU - Fisher, Helen

AU - Dumontheil, Iroise

AU - Thomas, Michael S. C.

AU - Gulliver, John

AU - Beevers, Sean

AU - Kelly, Frank J.

AU - Toledano, Mireille

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2024 The Authors

PY - 2024/9

Y1 - 2024/9

N2 - Background: There is increasing evidence that air pollution and noise may have detrimental psychological impacts, but there are few studies evaluating adolescents, ground-level ozone exposure, multi-exposure models, or metrics beyond outdoor residential exposure. This study aimed to address these gaps. Methods: Annual air pollution and traffic noise exposure at home and school were modelled for adolescents in the Greater London SCAMP cohort (N=7555). Indoor, outdoor and hybrid environments were modelled for air pollution. Cognitive and mental health measures were self-completed at two timepoints (baseline aged 11–12 and follow-up aged 13–15). Associations were modelled using multi-level multivariate linear or ordinal logistic regression. Results: This is the first study to investigate ground-level ozone exposure in relation to adolescent executive functioning, finding that a 1 interquartile range increase in outdoor ozone corresponded to −0.06 (p < 0.001) z-score between baseline and follow-up, 38 % less improvement than average (median development + 0.16). Exposure to nitrogen dioxide (NO 2), 24-hour traffic noise, and particulate matter < 10 µg/m 3 (PM 10) were also significantly associated with slower executive functioning development when adjusting for ozone. In two-pollutant models, particulate matter and ozone were associated with increased externalising problems. Daytime and evening noise were associated with higher anxiety symptoms, and 24-hour noise with worse speech-in-noise perception (auditory processing). Adjusting for air pollutants, 24-hour noise was also associated with higher anxiety symptoms and slower fluid intelligence development. Conclusions: Ozone's potentially detrimental effects on adolescent cognition have been overlooked in the literature. Our findings also suggest harmful impacts of other air pollutants and noise on mental health. Further research should attempt to replicate these findings and use mechanistic enquiry to enhance causal inference. Policy makers should carefully consider how to manage the public health impacts of ozone, as efforts to reduce other air pollutants such as NO 2 can increase ozone levels, as will the progression of climate change.

AB - Background: There is increasing evidence that air pollution and noise may have detrimental psychological impacts, but there are few studies evaluating adolescents, ground-level ozone exposure, multi-exposure models, or metrics beyond outdoor residential exposure. This study aimed to address these gaps. Methods: Annual air pollution and traffic noise exposure at home and school were modelled for adolescents in the Greater London SCAMP cohort (N=7555). Indoor, outdoor and hybrid environments were modelled for air pollution. Cognitive and mental health measures were self-completed at two timepoints (baseline aged 11–12 and follow-up aged 13–15). Associations were modelled using multi-level multivariate linear or ordinal logistic regression. Results: This is the first study to investigate ground-level ozone exposure in relation to adolescent executive functioning, finding that a 1 interquartile range increase in outdoor ozone corresponded to −0.06 (p < 0.001) z-score between baseline and follow-up, 38 % less improvement than average (median development + 0.16). Exposure to nitrogen dioxide (NO 2), 24-hour traffic noise, and particulate matter < 10 µg/m 3 (PM 10) were also significantly associated with slower executive functioning development when adjusting for ozone. In two-pollutant models, particulate matter and ozone were associated with increased externalising problems. Daytime and evening noise were associated with higher anxiety symptoms, and 24-hour noise with worse speech-in-noise perception (auditory processing). Adjusting for air pollutants, 24-hour noise was also associated with higher anxiety symptoms and slower fluid intelligence development. Conclusions: Ozone's potentially detrimental effects on adolescent cognition have been overlooked in the literature. Our findings also suggest harmful impacts of other air pollutants and noise on mental health. Further research should attempt to replicate these findings and use mechanistic enquiry to enhance causal inference. Policy makers should carefully consider how to manage the public health impacts of ozone, as efforts to reduce other air pollutants such as NO 2 can increase ozone levels, as will the progression of climate change.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85203169226&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.envint.2024.108963

DO - 10.1016/j.envint.2024.108963

M3 - Article

SN - 0160-4120

VL - 191

JO - Environment International

JF - Environment International

M1 - 108963

ER -