Low Child IQ Scores Linked to Urban Air Pollution

Scientists have made a connection between air pollution and childhood intelligence, suggesting that babies in the womb exposed to poor levels of air quality may produce lower IQ scores later in life.  The scientists published their results in a new study in the current edition of the journal Paediatrics, which examined just fewer than 250 children living in New York City and whose mothers were fitted with air monitoring equipment during the final stages of their pregnancies.
 
The majority of these parents-to-be lived in the South Bronx and in the North of Manhattan and, thus, were exposed to a range of air pollutants including car emission fumes.

Once they had reached five years old, the children were all made to do IQ tests, with the result that the scores achieved by children whose mothers live in the highest-pollution areas were, on average, up to five points below other children.  A five-point differential of this kind, said head study author Frederica Perera, might be enough to influence how these children go on to perform at school. 

City Air Pollution

According to the University of Chicago’s Dr Michael Msall – unconnected to the study – the new report doesn’t represent an automatic link between urban air pollution and children destined not to “learn to read and write and spell.”  It does, however, indicate that city air pollution is capable of affecting people living in urban areas to a greater degree than previous studies suggested. 

“We are learning more and more about low-dose exposure and how things we take for granted may not be a free ride”, Msall stated.

Air Pollution Exposure

Additional research is required to substantiate these new air pollution and child IQ findings, but based on them, it can be gathered that pre-natal air pollution exposure might affect children in a similar way to lead, according to one environmental health figure.

For the future, those behind the new study propose to carry on assessing the same children as they start school and progress the educational portion of their lives.  In doing this, they will be able to establish whether any other health factors arise that can be linked to urban air pollution.

See also:

City CO2 Emissions Per Capita