The associations of air pollution, traffic noise and green space with overweight throughout childhood: The PIAMA birth cohort study

Background: Air pollution, traffic noise and absence of green space may contribute to the development of overweight in children. Objectives: To investigate the combined associations of air pollution, traffic noise and green space with overweight throughout childhood. Methods: We used data for 3680 participants of the Dutch PIAMA birth cohort. We estimated exposure to air pollution, traffic noise and green space (i.e. the average Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and percentages of green space in circular buffers of 300 m and 3000 m) at the children's home addresses at the time of parental reported weight and height measurements. Associations of these exposures with overweight from age 3 to 17 years were analyzed by generalized linear mixed models, adjusting for potential confounders. Odds ratios (OR's) are presented for an interquartile range increase in exposure. Results: odds of being overweight increased with increasing exposure to NO₂ (adjusted OR 1.40 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.12–1.74] per 8.90 µg/m³) and tended to decrease with increasing exposure to green space in a 3000 m buffer (adjusted OR 0.86 [95% CI 0.71–1.04] per 0.13 increase in the NDVI; adjusted OR 0.86 [95% CI 0.71–1.03] per 29.5% increase in the total percentage of green space). After adjustment for NO₂, the associations with green space in a 3000 m buffer weakened. No associations of traffic noise with overweight throughout childhood were found. In children living in an urban area, living further away from a park was associated with a lower odds of being overweight (adjusted OR 0.67 [95% CI 0.52–0.85] per 359.6 m). Conclusions: Exposure to traffic-related air pollution, but not traffic noise or green space, may contribute to childhood overweight. Future studies examining the associations of green space with childhood overweight should account for air pollution exposure.