Using Geographic Information Systems to Evaluate the Association of Air Pollution with Neurodevelopment among Preterm Children in the Greater Taipei Area

Outdoor air pollution is a global environmental problem and causes numerous adverse health effects, including increased hospital admission and emergency room visits of patients with respiratory or cardiovascular diseases, as well as increased mortality of many diseases. Researchers started to notice the association between neurobehavioral health and air pollution in recent years. The results of several studies indicated that perinatal air pollution exposure decreased the neurodevelopment and cognitive functions of children. Thus, we will conduct a study to evaluate the effect of prenatal and early childhood exposure to air pollution on neurodevelopment in the first 2 years (adjusted age) of life among very low birth weight (VLBW) preterm children in the Greater Taipei area. We will establish a proper method to evaluate the spatiotemporal distributions of outdoor air pollutants in the Greater Taipei area using geographic information system and land-use regression. The method will be applied to estimate air pollution exposure of the study children during pregnancy and in the first 2 years of life. Neurodevelopment of the study children will be evaluated using Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development (Bayley-III). Other important information of the children will be collected using a structured questionnaire and medical records including prenatal and postnatal residential addresses, basic social demographic characteristics, living and dietary habits, pollutants in home, etc. We will use multiple regressions to examine the relationship between exposure to air pollution and neurodevelopment among the study children, controlling for important confounders and effect modifiers. The results of this study will provide the association between exposure to prenatal and early childhood exposure to air pollution on neurodevelopment in the first 2 years of life among VLBW preterm children, as well as the information for the public to promote newborn health and to decrease government health expenditure.