Air pollution and bone health outcomes: periods of susceptibility from pregnancy to childhood

Background: Early life exposure to environmental factors can impact skeletal development. We aimed to identify periods of susceptibility to air pollution in early life in relation to bone health outcomes at age six. Methods: Data were from the Generation R study, a population-based pregnancy cohort...

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Authors: Scheepers, Lieke E. J. M., Binter, Anne-Claire, Santos, Susana, Petricola, Sami, Rivadeneira, Fernando, Jaddoe, Vincent W. V., Guxens Junyent, Mònica, Johnston, Fay H.
Format: article
Status:Published version
Publication Date:2025
Country:España
Institution:Universitat Pompeu Fabra
Repository:Repositorio Digital de la UPF
OAI Identifier:oai:dnet:rdupf_______::eb6b5cc7e90ff93246960c34d17770be
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10230/73481
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2025.109739
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Air pollution
Bone mineral density
Children
DLM
Particulate matter (PM)
Pregnancy
Time series
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spelling Air pollution and bone health outcomes: periods of susceptibility from pregnancy to childhoodScheepers, Lieke E. J. M.Binter, Anne-ClaireSantos, SusanaPetricola, SamiRivadeneira, FernandoJaddoe, Vincent W. V.Guxens Junyent, MònicaJohnston, Fay H.Air pollutionBone mineral densityChildrenDLMParticulate matter (PM)PregnancyTime seriesBackground: Early life exposure to environmental factors can impact skeletal development. We aimed to identify periods of susceptibility to air pollution in early life in relation to bone health outcomes at age six. Methods: Data were from the Generation R study, a population-based pregnancy cohort study, The Netherlands. We estimated daily concentrations of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and particulate matter (PM10, PM2.5 and PM2.5 absorbance) at the home addresses during pregnancy and childhood, using land-use regression models. Bone mineral density and area-adjusted bone mineral content were measured by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry at age six. We performed distributed lag modelling (DLM) adjusted for several socioeconomic characteristics to assess the associations between bone health and air pollution, using 28-day averaged exposure levels, and identify windows of susceptibility. Results: Among 5966 children, we identified windows of susceptibility from ∼ 1 to ∼ 4 years of age for PM2.5 and PM2.5 absorbance with bone mineral density (e.g., -10.3; 95 % CI -15.8 to -4.7 per 5 µg/m3 increase in PM2.5) and for all air pollutants with bone mineral content (e.g., -14.6; 95 % CI -20.7 to -8.4 per 5 µg/m3 increase in PM2.5). Also, we identified an association between NO2 and PM2.5 absorbance during pregnancy and higher bone mineral content (e.g., 4.0; 95 % CI 1.4 to 6.6 per 10-5 m-1 increase in PM2.5 absorbance). In the sex-stratified analyses, associations across all exposures and outcome measures were in the same direction for both sexes, and similar to the main analyses, but statistically significance was observed only in boys. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that exposure to air pollutants during childhood may already lead to poorer bone health outcomes.Elsevier2026202620252026info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionapplication/pdfapplication/pdfhttps://hdl.handle.net/10230/73481http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2025.109739reponame:Repositorio Digital de la UPFinstname:Universitat Pompeu FabraInglésEnvironment International. 2025;203:109739© 2025 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:dnet:rdupf_______::eb6b5cc7e90ff93246960c34d17770be2026-06-12T07:21:37Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Air pollution and bone health outcomes: periods of susceptibility from pregnancy to childhood
title Air pollution and bone health outcomes: periods of susceptibility from pregnancy to childhood
spellingShingle Air pollution and bone health outcomes: periods of susceptibility from pregnancy to childhood
Scheepers, Lieke E. J. M.
Air pollution
Bone mineral density
Children
DLM
Particulate matter (PM)
Pregnancy
Time series
title_short Air pollution and bone health outcomes: periods of susceptibility from pregnancy to childhood
title_full Air pollution and bone health outcomes: periods of susceptibility from pregnancy to childhood
title_fullStr Air pollution and bone health outcomes: periods of susceptibility from pregnancy to childhood
title_full_unstemmed Air pollution and bone health outcomes: periods of susceptibility from pregnancy to childhood
title_sort Air pollution and bone health outcomes: periods of susceptibility from pregnancy to childhood
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Scheepers, Lieke E. J. M.
Binter, Anne-Claire
Santos, Susana
Petricola, Sami
Rivadeneira, Fernando
Jaddoe, Vincent W. V.
Guxens Junyent, Mònica
Johnston, Fay H.
author Scheepers, Lieke E. J. M.
author_facet Scheepers, Lieke E. J. M.
Binter, Anne-Claire
Santos, Susana
Petricola, Sami
Rivadeneira, Fernando
Jaddoe, Vincent W. V.
Guxens Junyent, Mònica
Johnston, Fay H.
author_role author
author2 Binter, Anne-Claire
Santos, Susana
Petricola, Sami
Rivadeneira, Fernando
Jaddoe, Vincent W. V.
Guxens Junyent, Mònica
Johnston, Fay H.
author2_role author
author
author
author
author
author
author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Air pollution
Bone mineral density
Children
DLM
Particulate matter (PM)
Pregnancy
Time series
topic Air pollution
Bone mineral density
Children
DLM
Particulate matter (PM)
Pregnancy
Time series
description Background: Early life exposure to environmental factors can impact skeletal development. We aimed to identify periods of susceptibility to air pollution in early life in relation to bone health outcomes at age six. Methods: Data were from the Generation R study, a population-based pregnancy cohort study, The Netherlands. We estimated daily concentrations of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and particulate matter (PM10, PM2.5 and PM2.5 absorbance) at the home addresses during pregnancy and childhood, using land-use regression models. Bone mineral density and area-adjusted bone mineral content were measured by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry at age six. We performed distributed lag modelling (DLM) adjusted for several socioeconomic characteristics to assess the associations between bone health and air pollution, using 28-day averaged exposure levels, and identify windows of susceptibility. Results: Among 5966 children, we identified windows of susceptibility from ∼ 1 to ∼ 4 years of age for PM2.5 and PM2.5 absorbance with bone mineral density (e.g., -10.3; 95 % CI -15.8 to -4.7 per 5 µg/m3 increase in PM2.5) and for all air pollutants with bone mineral content (e.g., -14.6; 95 % CI -20.7 to -8.4 per 5 µg/m3 increase in PM2.5). Also, we identified an association between NO2 and PM2.5 absorbance during pregnancy and higher bone mineral content (e.g., 4.0; 95 % CI 1.4 to 6.6 per 10-5 m-1 increase in PM2.5 absorbance). In the sex-stratified analyses, associations across all exposures and outcome measures were in the same direction for both sexes, and similar to the main analyses, but statistically significance was observed only in boys. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that exposure to air pollutants during childhood may already lead to poorer bone health outcomes.
publishDate 2025
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2025
2026
2026
2026
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv https://hdl.handle.net/10230/73481
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2025.109739
url https://hdl.handle.net/10230/73481
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2025.109739
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv Environment International. 2025;203:109739
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Elsevier
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Elsevier
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:Repositorio Digital de la UPF
instname:Universitat Pompeu Fabra
instname_str Universitat Pompeu Fabra
reponame_str Repositorio Digital de la UPF
collection Repositorio Digital de la UPF
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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