Prenatal exposure to air pollution is associated with inhibitory control in childhood and academic performance in adolescence

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2021.111570

Commentary

Prenatal exposure to air pollution is said to be associated with self-regulation and poor academic performance, but this study was investigated because it is unclear whether self-regulation contributes to pollution exposure or whether deficiencies in inhibitory control are associated with poor academic performance.

Participants were recruited from a prospective birth cohort, and measurements of prenatal airborne polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in late pregnancy, inhibitory control (NEPSY inhibition) at mean age = 10.4 years, and Woodcock-JohnsonTests ofAchievement-III at mean age = 13.7 were N = 200 were available.

The results showed that the higher the prenatal PAH, the lower the spelling skills. Higher prenatal PAH was also detected with poorer reading and math skills, and across all participants, higher PAH was significantly associated with poorer inhibitory control.

And better inhibitory control tendency was significantly associated with better reading comprehension and math skills. 

In conclusion, we found that higher prenatal PAH exposure and poorer inhibitory control in childhood were associated with worse spelling, reading and math skills in adolescence.