Family- and Neighborhood-Level Environmental Associations With Physical-Health Conditions in 9- and 10-Year-Olds

• In Event: Inequities in Children’s Environmental Exposures: Integrating Toxicant, Social, and Structural Influences on Children’s Physical Health

Abstract

Introduction: Children’s environments are a major determinant of their trajectories in life. One such factor is socioeconomic status (SES), a complex, multidimensional construct, comprised of several unique yet interrelated factors characterizing individuals, families, communities, and neighborhoods (i.e., neighborhood disadvantage). Neighborhood-level SES and its related environmental factors have been shown to be associated with physical-health outcomes in children. Our goal was to determine how neighborhood-level environmental factors (neighborhood disadvantage, risk of lead exposure, and fine particulate matter air pollution [PM2.5]) are associated with physical-health conditions in 9- to 10-year-old participants in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study®, and how they are moderated by family-level SES.
Hypothesis: We hypothesized that neighborhood disadvantage, risk of lead exposure, ambient PM2.5 exposure would be associated with greater likelihood of having several physical-health conditions and, as in our past research, that such associations for youth of families living in households of lower SES would be more pronounced.
Study Population: We performed cross-sectional analyses of 8,429 youth participants in the ABCD Study®. Youth participants were ~9.9 years old. Compared to the entire ABCD cohort, our current sample was slightly more likely to have higher incomes and education levels.
Methods: Data were collected on nine physical-health conditions (having underweight or overweight/obesity, not participating in sports activities, short sleep duration, high sleep disturbances, lack of vigorous and strengthening-related physical activity, miscellaneous medical problems, and traumatic brain injury). The presence/absence of each of these conditions were regressed on three environmental factors [neighborhood disadvantage (area deprivation index; ADI), risk of lead exposure, and concentrations of particulate matter (PM2.5)] and their interaction with family-level SES (i.e., parent-reported annual household income). Environmental data were geocoded to participants’ primary residential address at 9- to 10-years-old.
Results: There were highly significant, positive associations between risk of lead exposure, ADI, and PM2.5, so these variables were analyzed in separate models. Risk of lead exposure and ADI were positively associated with the odds of having overweight/obesity, not participating in sports activity, and short sleep durations. ADI was also positively associated with high sleep disturbances. PM2.5 was positively associated with the odds of having overweight/obesity and reduced vigorous physical activity. Family-level SES moderated relationships between ADI and both underweight and overweight/obesity, with high SES being associated with more pronounced changes given increased ADI.
Conclusion: ADI was most consistently associated with physical-health problems. While one possibility is that our data have more to do with co-occurrences of physical-health conditions than environmental factors, the parallel relationships between ADI, risk of lead exposure, and PM2.5 with BMI, sleep, and physical activity may reflect that environmental exposures rarely occur in isolation. The interrelatedness of ADI, risk of lead exposure, and PM2.5 ultimately reflects their common antecedents, namely structural racism and factors that give rise to social stratification. Policymakers and public-health officials must implement policies and remediation strategies to ensure children are free from exposure to neurotoxicant and environmental factors. Physical-health conditions may be less of a product of an individual’s choices and more related to environmental influences.

Authors

• Andrew T Marshall, University of Southern California
  Presenting Author

• Shana Adise, University of Southern California

• Carlos Cardenas-Iniguez, University of Southern California

• Ogechi K. Hippolyte, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles

• Camille A. Parchment, University of Southern California

• Tanya I. Villalobos, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles

• Lawrence T. Wong, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles

• Cynthia Pace Cisneros

• Eric C. Kan, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles

• Clare E. Palmer, University of California San Diego

• Stefanie Bodison

• Megan M Herting, University of Southern California

• Elizabeth R. Sowell, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, University of Southern California Los Angeles