Intellectual Disability Linked to Air Pollution

Intellectual disabilities among children are associated with air pollution, according to the study funded by Public Health England and published in the Journal of Intellectual Disability Research.

The team reached the conclusion from an //analysis of data extracted from the UK's Millennium Cohort Study, a nationally representative sample of more than 18,000 UK children born in 2000 to 2002.

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‘Outdoor exposure may impede cognitive development in children. ’

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"We know that people with intellectual disabilities in the UK have poorer health and die earlier than they should.

"This research adds another piece to the jigsaw of understanding why that is the case and what needs to be done about it," said lead author and doctor Eric Emerson from The University of Sydney.

Averaging across ages, children with intellectual disabilities were 33 per cent more likely to live in areas with high levels of diesel particulate matter and 30 per cent more likely to live in areas with high levels of nitrogen dioxide.

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"These children were 30 per cent more likely to live in areas with high levels of carbon monoxide and 17 per cent more likely to live in areas with high levels of sulphur dioxide," the findings showed.

The authors noted that intellectual disability is more common among children living in more socio-economically deprived areas, which tend to have higher levels of air pollution.

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