Events

Future Earth Health Working Group - 研究專題討論 - 應用地理資訊系統預測注意力不足過動症之發展：台灣出生世代研究

Background and Objective:

Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is one of the common neurological developmental disorders in children. Studies have investigated the effects of air pollution and high temperature on ADHD, but the results are inconsistent. There is no research in Taiwan using satellite data to explore the effects of fine particulate matter (PM2.5), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), ozone (O3), sulfur dioxide (SO2), and the composite wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT) on ADHD before and after birth.

Methods:

This study used Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to integrate satellite, meteorological, and land use data required for air pollution into 1 km grid centroids, and estimated the daily PM2.5, NO2, O3, and SO2 in Taiwan using the Random Forest (RF) and Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) models. In addition, WBGT was calculated from meteorological factors such as environmental temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, and radiation heat. This study selected the birth cohort from 2005 to 2010, identified ADHD cases, and used time-dependent Cox models and distributed lag non-linear models (DLNMs) to observe the critical periods and dose effects of exposure to PM2.5, NO2, O3, SO2, and WBGT from conception to five years after birth on the risk of developing ADHD.

Results:

This study took 3 years to complete the prediction models for PM2.5, NO2, O3, SO2, and WBGT. The CV R2 after tenfold cross-validation were 0.84 (RMSE 7.43 ug/m3), 0.83 (RMSE 3.97 ppb), 0.81 (RMSE=0.59 ppb), and 0.68 (RMSE=0.45 ppb), respectively. In addition, there were 8,190 cases of ADHD during the study period. The results showed that exposure to PM2.5 or NO2 during the first trimester and the third year after birth significantly increased the risk of developing ADHD. Exposure to WBGT during the second trimester and the fourth year after birth had a significant positive correlation with ADHD. Exposure to SO2 during the first trimester and after birth had a significant relationship with ADHD. However, exposure to O3 before and after birth had a significant negative correlation with ADHD.

Conclusion:

This study used GIS to integrate satellite, meteorological, and land use data required for air pollution to complete the prediction models of daily 1 km resolution PM2.5, NO2, O3, SO2, and WBGT in Taiwan from 2004 to 2017. The study found that exposure of mothers to PM2.5, NO2, O3, SO2, and high temperature during pregnancy and after birth significantly affects the risk of developing ADHD in children. It is worth paying attention to by the public and relevant government agencies. It is recommended that pregnant women reduce exposure to air pollutants during pregnancy and after birth to reduce the risk of developing ADHD in their children.

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