Accumulating exposure to quality green space over time is posited to influence child health, yet longitudinal studies are scarce. This study aimed to examine the associations between trajectories of perceived green space quality and child health-related outcomes. We used data from 1874 childrenin the B-cohort of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children who participated in the Child Health Checkpoint module at 11–12 years. Data on caregiver perceived green space quality measured biennially was assessed using discrete trajectory mixture models to group children by contrasting distributions in green space quality over time. Examination of associations between trajectory groups of perceived green space quality and child biomarkers (i.e., albumin-to-creatinine ratio, total, cholesterol, total triglycerides, and glucose), physical health and behavioural assessments (i.e., anthropometric measurements, blood pressure, sedentary behaviour, physical activity, sleep, aerobic work capacity, and general wellbeing), and health care use were assessed using multilevel models, adjusted for sociodemographic variables. Four perceived green space quality trajectories were identified: “decreasing quality from high to moderate”; “increasing quality from low to high”; “consistently high quality”; “consistently low quality”. Compared with consistently low levels of quality green space, adjusted models indicated consistently high-quality green space was associated with lower total triglycerides (β −0.13; 95%CI -0.25, −0.01). Lower odds of hospital admission was observed among children who accumulated quality green space over time (OR 0.45; 95%CI 0.23, 0.87). These associations were observed in boys only in sex-stratified analyses. Moreover, boys accumulating quality green space through time tended to have lower diastolic blood pressure (β −2.76; 95%CI -5.17, −0.35) and girls who experienced loss in quality green space tended to have a higher percentage of body fat (β 2.81; 95%CI 0.43, 5.20). Accumulating quality green space over time is important for various aspects of child health, with contrasting benefits by sex.

Excessive exposure to light at night (LAN) has become a serious public health concern. However, little is known about the impact of indoor LAN exposure on blood pressure, particularly among young adults. We aimed to investigate the effects of bedroom individual-level LAN exposure in real-world environment on blood pressure and hypertension among vulnerable young adults, and to evaluate the possible buffering effect of physical activity. In this cross-sectional study, a total of 400 healthy young adults aged 16–22 years were included. Bedroom LAN exposure was recorded at 1-min intervals for two consecutive nights using a TES-1339 R illuminance meter. Blood pressure was measured three times (8–11 a.m. in the physical examination day) in the seated position using an Omron HEM-7121 digital sphygmomanometer. A wrist-worn triaxial accelerometer (ActiGraph GT3X-BT) was used to assess physical activity for seven consecutive days. Each 1 lx increase of bedroom LAN intensity was associated with 0.55 mmHg-increase in SBP (95% CI: 0.15, 0.95), 0.30 mmHg-increase in DBP (95% CI: 0.06, 0.54), and 0.38 mmHg-increase in MAP (95% CI: 0.12, 0.65). Higher levels of LAN exposure were associated with increased risk of hypertension (LAN ≥ 3lx vs. LAN < 3lx: OR = 3.30, 95%CI = 1.19–9.19; LAN ≥ 5lx vs. LAN < 5lx: OR = 3.87, 95%CI = 1.37–10.98). However, these detrimental effects of bedroom LAN exposure on blood pressure and hypertension were not observed among young adults with high MVPA (≥2 h/day) level. MVPA can alleviate negative effects of bedroom LAN exposure on blood pressure and hypertension. Maintaining bedroom settings darkness at night may be an important strategy for reducing the risk of hypertension. Furthermore, for individuals living with high levels of indoor LAN exposure, regular physical activity may be a good option for preventing cardiovascular disease and hypertension.

Evidence has shown associations between air pollution and traffic-related exposure with accelerated aging, but no study to date has linked the exposure with age at natural menopause, an important indicator of reproductive aging. In this study, we sought to examine the associations of residential exposure to ambient particulate matter (PM) and distance to major roadways with age at natural menopause in the Nurses’ Health Study II (NHS II), a large, prospective female cohort in US. A total of 105,996 premenopausal participants in NHS II were included at age 40 and followed through 2015. Time-varying residential exposures to PM₁₀, PM₂.₅₋₁₀, and PM₂.₅ and distance to roads was estimated. We calculated hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for natural menopause using Cox proportional hazard models adjusting for potential confounders and predictors of age at menopause. We also examined effect modification by region, smoking, body mass, physical activity, menstrual cycle length, and population density. There were 64,340 reports of natural menopause throughout 1,059,229 person-years of follow-up. In fully adjusted models, a 10 μg/m³ increase in the cumulative average exposure to PM₁₀ (HR: 1.02, 95% CI: 1.00, 1.04), PM₂.₅₋₁₀ (HR: 1.03, 95% CI: 1.00, 1.05), and PM₂.₅ (HR: 1.03, 95% CI: 1.00, 1.06) and living within 50 m to a major road at age 40 (HR: 1.03, 95%CI: 1.00, 1.06) were associated with slightly earlier menopause. No statistically significant effect modification was found, although the associations of PM were slightly stronger for women who lived in the West and for never smokers. To conclude, we found exposure to ambient PM and traffic in midlife was associated with slightly earlier onset of natural menopause. Our results support previous evidence that exposure to air pollution and traffic may accelerate reproductive aging.

Cadmium (Cd) is a toxic metal found in tobacco, air and food. Recent cross-sectional studies have suggested that Cd negatively impacts physical performance, but the prospective association is uncertain.We used data from 2548 older adults from the Seniors-ENRICA II cohort in Madrid, Spain. Whole blood Cd levels were measured at baseline using inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry. At baseline (2017) and follow-up (2019), overall physical function was evaluated using the physical component summary (PCS) of the SF 12-Item Health questionnaire, lower-extremity performance with the Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB), muscle weakness with a hand dynamometer, and frailty with a Deficit Accumulation index. Mobility limitations and disability in instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) were ascertained with standardized questionnaires. Analyses were adjusted for relevant confounders, including tobacco smoke, number of cigarettes smoked per day and time since cessation in former smokers.In cross-sectional analyses, odds ratios (95% confidence interval) per two-fold increase in blood Cd were 1.16 (1.03; 1.31) for low PCS scores, 1.08 (0.97; 1.20) for impaired lower-extremity performance, 1.10 (0.98; 1.23) for low grip strength, 1.11 (1.02; 1.20) for mobility limitations, 1.16 (1.02; 1.31) for frailty, and 1.26 (1.08; 1.47) for IADL disability. In longitudinal analyses, corresponding hazard ratios were 1.25 (1.03; 1.51) for low PCS scores, 1.14 (1.03; 1.27) for impaired lower-extremity performance, 1.02 (0.92; 1.13) for low grip strength, 1.03 (0.91; 1.16) for mobility limitations, and 1.16 (1.00; 1.35) for frailty. All the associations where consistent when current smokers were excluded from the analyses.Our results support the role of Cd as a risk factor for physical function impairments in older adults.

Pyrethroids are an important class of insecticides, and thousands of tons of these compounds are used in the United States every year. This study characterized exposures to pyrethroids and assessed demographic, socioeconomic, and lifestyle factors that modulate pyrethroid exposure using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2007–2012, a nationally representative survey of the non-institutionalized population of the United States. Urinary levels of commonly used biomarkers of pyrethroid exposure, including 3-phenoxybenzoic acid (3-PBA), 4-fluoro-3-phenoxybenzoic acid (F-PBA), and cis-dibromovinyl-dimethylcyclopropane carboxylic acid (DBCA), were determined by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. The detection rate of 3-PBA, a nonspecific metabolite of several pyrethroids, was 78.1% in adults (N = 5233) and 79.3% in children (N = 2295). The detection rates of all other pyrethroid metabolites were <10%. The median urinary level of 3-PBA in adults was 0.47 μg/L (interquartile range, 0.14–1.22 μg/L). For children, the median urinary level was 0.49 μg/L (interquartile range, 0.17–1.29 μg/L). Age, gender, family income-to-poverty ratio (PIR), levels of physical activity, alcohol intake, and body mass index were associated with 3-PBA levels in adults. In children, age, gender, race/ethnicity, and PIR were associated with 3-PBA levels. 3-PBA levels also differed significantly across NHANES cycles, with higher levels observed in NHANES 2011–2012. Geometric mean 3-PBA levels in U.S. adults were 0.41 μg/L in NHANES 2007–2008, 0.41 μg/L in NHANES 2009–2010, and 0.66 μg/L in NHANES 2011–2012. In U.S. children, geometric mean 3-PBA levels were 0.40 μg/L in NHANES 2007–2008, 0.46 μg/L in NHANES 2009–2010, and 0.70 μg/L in NHANES 2011–2012. These results demonstrate that pyrethroid exposures remain a current environmental health concern and lay the foundation for further preclinical and epidemiological studies assessing human health risks associated with pyrethroids.

In the general population, chronic exposure to low-dose persistent organic pollutants (POPs), particularly organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), has been recently linked to many chronic diseases. Widespread contamination of the food chain and human adipose tissue has made avoiding exposure to these chemicals impossible; thus, alternative strategies for decreasing the chemical burden must be investigated. Recently, macronutrient intake was found to significantly modify the toxicokinetics of POPs in animal experimental studies. Thus, we evaluated whether macronutrient intake was related to serum concentrations of OCPs in healthy adults without cardio-metabolic diseases. Subjects included 1,764 adults, aged 20 years or above, who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999–2004. Macronutrient intake was assessed based on a 24-h dietary recall interview. Six individual OCPs commonly detected among the general population were evaluated as markers of OCPs and other coexisting lipophilic chemicals stored in adipose tissue and released into circulation. High fat intake was associated with lower concentrations of OCPs, while high carbohydrate intake showed the opposite result. When three types of fats were individually evaluated, both saturated fatty acids and monounsaturated fatty acids, but not polyunsaturated fatty acids, were inversely associated with serum concentrations of OCPs. Adjustment for possible confounders did not change the results. When stratified by age, gender, body mass index, and physical activity, these associations were similar in most subgroups. Thus, similar to the findings observed in animal experimental studies, a moderate-fat diet with low carbohydrate intake was related to low serum concentrations of OCPs in humans. Although these findings need to be replicated, changing dietary macronutrient intake can be investigated as a practical strategy for dealing with unavoidable lipophilic chemical mixtures such as OCPs in modern society.

Metabolic syndrome is an important risk factor for non-communicable diseases, particularly type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, and stroke. Long-term exposure to greenspace could be protective of metabolic syndrome, but evidence for such an association is lacking. Accordingly, we investigated the association between long-term exposure to greenspace and risk of metabolic syndrome.The present longitudinal study was based on data from four clinical examinations between 1997 and 2013 in 6076 participants of the Whitehall II study, UK (aged 45–69 years at baseline). Long-term exposure to greenspace was assessed by satellite-based indices of greenspace including Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Vegetation Continuous Field (VCF) averaged across buffers of 500 and 1000 m surrounding the participants’ residential location at each follow-up. The ascertainment of metabolic syndrome was based on the World Health Organization (WHO) definition. Hazard ratios for metabolic syndrome were estimated using Cox proportional hazards regression models, controlling for age, sex, ethnicity, lifestyle factors, and socioeconomic status.Higher residential surrounding greenspace was associated with lower risk of metabolic syndrome. An interquartile range increase in NDVI and VCF in the 500 m buffer was associated with 13% (95% confidence interval (CI): 1%, 23%) and 14% (95% CI: 5%, 22%) lower risk of metabolic syndrome, respectively. Greater exposure to greenspace was also associated with each individual component of metabolic syndrome, including a lower risk of high levels of fasting glucose, large waist circumference, high triglyceride levels, low HDL cholesterol, and hypertension. The association between residential surrounding greenspace and metabolic syndrome may have been mediated by physical activity and exposure to air pollution.The findings of the present study suggest that middle-aged and older adults living in greener neighbourhoods are at lower risk of metabolic syndrome than those living in neighbourhoods with less greenspace.

Tin is a naturally occurring heavy metal that occurs in the environment in both inorganic and organic forms. Human exposure to tin is almost ubiquitous; however, surprisingly little is known about factors affecting environmental tin exposure in humans. This study analyzed demographic, socioeconomic and lifestyle factors associated with total urinary tin levels in adults (N = 3522) and children (N = 1641) participating in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2011–2014, a nationally representative health survey in the United States. Urinary tin levels, a commonly used biomarker of environmental tin exposure, were determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Detection frequencies of tin were 87.05% in adults and 91.29% in children. Median and geometric mean levels of urinary tin in the adult population were 0.42 μg/L and 0.49 μg/L, respectively. For children, median and geometric mean levels of urinary tin were 0.60 μg/L and 0.66 μg/L, respectively. Age was identified as an important factor associated with urinary tin levels. Median tin levels in the ≥60 year age group were almost 2-fold higher than the 20–39 year age group. Tin levels in children were 2-fold higher than in adolescents. Race/ethnicity and household income were associated with tin levels in both adults and children. In addition, physical activity was inversely associated with urinary tin levels in adults. These results demonstrate that total tin exposures vary across different segments of the general U.S. population. Because the present study does not distinguish between organic and inorganic forms of tin, further studies are needed to better characterize modifiable factors associated with exposures to specific tin compounds, with the goal of reducing the overall exposure of the U.S. population.

Cadmium (Cd) exposure is recognized as an important risk factor for psychological health, but suitable physical activity may relieve depression. However, it remains unknown whether physical activity (PA) can reduce the effect of cadmium exposure on depression. Therefore, a cross-sectional data from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2015–2018 was used. The Nine-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) was used to assess depression among the participants. PA was calculated according to the metabolic equivalent (MET), weekly frequency, and duration of each activity. Logistic regression and restricted cubic spline models were used to examine the associations of Cd and depression. A total of 5560 adults aged 20 years and above were finally included in this study. The results indicated a positive correlation between blood Cd and depression. The multivariate-adjusted ORs (95% CI) of the highest quartile were 2.290 (1.754–2.990) for depression, which was still significant after controlling other heavy metals (P < 0.05). Under Cd exposure, the high intensity of physical activity group had the lowest risk of depression (OR = 2.226, 95%CI: 1.447–3.425), while the group with no physical activity had the highest risk (OR = 2.443, 95%CI: 1.382–4.318). Our results indicate that inner Cd exposure may be a risk factor for depression, and physical activity can moderate this relationship to some degree.

The quality characteristics of urban green spaces (UGS) have been suggested to play a critical role in their use and their potentials to exert health effects. However, epidemiological studies evaluating such a role are scarce. These studies have generally focused on a limited number of quality dimensions. We studied the association between 10 UGS quality dimensions, assessed through a comprehensive multidimensional tool, and physical activity, overweight/obesity, and UGS use. Our study was based on 2053 adults participating in the Barcelona Health Survey (2016) and the quality of 149 UGS located in Barcelona, Spain. For each participant, we abstracted the average and maximum quality score separately for each of the 10 quality dimensions and an overall quality score for the UGS within 300 m of the participant’s residential address. Data on the study outcomes were obtained through face-to-face interviews. We developed logistic regression and negative binomial models to assess our evaluated associations and conducted mediation analyses between the different outcomes. We observed that the overall quality of UGS was associated with higher likelihood of engaging in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (OR:1.13; 95% CI:1.00–1.27), lower risk of overweight/obesity (OR: 0.88; 95% CI: 0.79–0.98), and increased use of UGS (exponentiated regression coefficient: 1.08; 95% CI:1.01–1.15). For the quality dimensions, we observed different patterns of associations depending on the outcome; however, bird biodiversity and amenities seem to be relevant to all of our evaluated outcomes. The mediation analysis suggested that UGS use mediate the association between quality and physical activity, while physical activity mediates the association between quality and overweight/obesity. The novel results from this study will allow decision-makers better design UGS and directly pinpoint relevant quality dimensions to promote physical activity, reduce the risk of overweight/obesity and boost the use of UGS amongst citizens.