Air pollution and poverty are associated to lower IQ in children, research says.
A study was conducted by researchers at the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health (CCCEH) at the Mailman School of Public Health. They compared five-year old children using variables such as economic status and exposure to the pollutant polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH).
PAH are present in sources of combustion such as emissions from motor vehicles, oil, coal-burning, and tobacco smoke.
According to Science Daily, children who are born to mothers with economic struggles and those who were exposed to substantial levels of PAH during pregnancy had considerably lower scores on IQ tests as compared with children who are born to mothers with good economic status and decreased exposure to pollutants.
The study involved a sample of 276 mother-child pairs from the urban birth cohort study in New York. The participants were followed-up from pregnancy up to early childhood.
During the study, mothers reported maternal material hardship, which pertains to unmet basic needs such as food, clothing, and housing, during the pregnancy up to some points in the early childhood.
Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health (CCCEH) Director and lead researcher Frederica Perara revealed that the exposure to airborne PAH during pregnancy was linked with postponed development at 3 years old, low verbal and full scale IQ at five years old, as well as symptoms of depression and anxiety at seven years old, as per Medicalxpress.
The Wechster Intelligence Scale for Children was used by the researchers to measure the children's IQ at 7 years old. To measure prenatal exposure to PNA, PNA-DNA samples in cord blood were used.
Considerable relationships were seen between both prenatal and periodic material maternal hardship and high levels of cord adducts on children's IQ scores. However, they were not seen in the group with low material hardship.
The research findings indicate the need to plan and strategize for the reduction of PAH exposure and improving material hardship. Also, the findings suggest programs like early prenatal screening in women so as to determine those who need psychological and material support.