Cited by 323Air Quality and Health ImpactsEnvironmental Justice and Health DisparitiesIndoor Air Quality and Microbial Exposure

Exposure to severe urban air pollution influences cognitive outcomes, brain volume and systemic inflammation in clinically healthy children

Calderón-Garcidueñas, Lilian, Engle, Randall, Mora-Tiscareño, Antonieta, Styner, Martin, Gómez-Garza, Gilberto, Zhu, Hongtu, Jewells, Valerie, Torres-Jardón, Ricardo +6 more·2011·Brain and Cognition

Abstract

Exposure to severe air pollution produces neuroinflammation and structural brain alterations in children. We tested whether patterns of brain growth, cognitive deficits and white matter hyperintensities (WMH) are associated with exposures to severe air pollution. Baseline and 1 year follow-up measurements of global and regional brain MRI volumes, cognitive abilities (Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised, WISC-R), and serum inflammatory mediators were collected in 20 Mexico City (MC) children (10 with white matter hyperintensities, WMH(+), and 10 without, WMH(-)) and 10 matched controls (CTL) from a low polluted city. There were significant differences in white matter volumes between CTL and MC children - both WMH(+) and WMH(-) - in right parietal and bilateral temporal areas. Both WMH(-) and WMH(+) MC children showed progressive deficits, compared to CTL children, on the WISC-R Vocabulary and Digit Span subtests. The cognitive deficits in highly exposed children match the localization of the volumetric differences detected over the 1 year follow-up, since the deficits observed are consistent with impairment of parietal and temporal lobe functions. Regardless of the presence of prefrontal WMH, Mexico City children performed more poorly across a variety of cognitive tests, compared to CTL children, thus WMH(+) is likely only partially identifying underlying white matter pathology. Together these findings reveal that exposure to air pollution may perturb the trajectory of cerebral development and result in cognitive deficits during childhood.

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Crossref · 10.1016/j.bandc.2011.09.006

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  • Some air pollutants induce oxidative stress and cause a systemic inflammatory reaction, a proposed mechanism whereby air pollutant exposures may perturb neurodevelopment.

    “Some air pollutants are known to induce oxidative stress and cause a systemic inflammatory reaction, a proposed mechanism whereby air pollutant exposures may perturb neurodevelopment.66–68”

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Authors
Calderón-Garcidueñas, L., Engle, R., Mora-Tiscareño, A., Styner, M., Gómez-Garza, G., Zhu, H., Jewells, V., Torres-Jardón, R., Romero, L., Monroy-Acosta, M. E., Bryant, C., González-González, L. O., Medina-Cortina, H., & D’Angiulli, A.
Affiliations
  • Georgia Institute of Technology (US)
  • Instituto Nacional de Pediatria (MX)
  • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (US)
  • Carleton University (CA)
Corresponding author
D’Angiulli, Amedeo
Venue
Brain and Cognition
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2011-12
Volume
77
Issue
3
Pages
345-355
ISSN
0278-2626 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2117738566
Cited by
323
References
67
Citations by year
2026: 15 · 2025: 25 · 2024: 18 · 2023: 19 · 2022: 41 · 2021: 34 · 2020: 30 · 2019: 23 · 2018: 24 · 2017: 25 · 2016: 19 · 2015: 15 · 2014: 10 · 2013: 15 · 2012: 9
FWCI
7.84
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Brain and Cognition (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
National Center for Research Resources (UL1RR025014, P20RR015583)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis › Air Quality and Health Impacts
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Environmental Justice and Health Disparities
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis › Indoor Air Quality and Microbial Exposure
Keywords
urban air pollution, child cognitive development, white matter hyperintensities, brain volume, systemic inflammation, neuroinflammation, cognitive impairment, parietal lobe, temporal lobe, brain development, serum inflammatory mediators
MeSH terms
Air Pollution, Brain, Child, Cognition, Cognition Disorders, Female, Humans, Inflammation, Intelligence Tests, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Mexico, Nerve Fibers, Myelinated, Neuropsychological Tests, Organ Size, Prospective Studies

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