title: Neurobehavioral performance in adolescents is inversely associated with traffic exposure.
abstract: On the basis of animal research and epidemiological studies in children and elderly there is a growing concern that traffic exposure may affect the brain. The aim of our study was to investigate the association between traffic exposure and neurobehavioral performance in adolescents. We examined 606 adolescents. To model the exposure, we constructed a traffic exposure factor based on a biomarker of benzene (urinary trans,trans-muconic acid) and the amount of contact with traffic preceding the neurobehavioral examination (using distance-weighted traffic density and time spent in traffic). We used a Bayesian structural equation model to investigate the association between traffic exposure and three neurobehavioral domains: sustained attention, short-term memory, and manual motor speed. A one standard deviation increase in traffic exposure was associated with a 0.26 standard deviation decrease in sustained attention (95% credible interval: -0.02 to -0.51), adjusting for gender, age, smoking, passive smoking, level of education of the mother, socioeconomic status, time of the day, and day of the week. The associations between traffic exposure and the other neurobehavioral domains studied had the same direction but did not reach the level of statistical significance. The results remained consistent in the sensitivity analysis excluding smokers and passive smokers. The inverse association between sustained attention and traffic exposure was independent of the blood lead level. Our study in adolescents supports the recent findings in children and elderly suggesting that traffic exposure adversely affects the neurobehavioral function.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Environmental Sciences, Hasselt University, Diepenbeek, Belgium.
authors.forename: Michal
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kicinski
authors.affiliation: Integrated Psychiatric Centre OPZ, Geel, Belgium.
authors.forename: Griet
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Vermeir
authors.affiliation: Department of Analytical and Environmental Chemistry, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Brussels, Belgium; Department of Radiotherapy and Nuclear Medicine, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Van Larebeke
authors.affiliation: Flemish Institute for Technological Research, Environmental Risk and Health, Mol, Belgium.
authors.forename: Elly
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Den Hond
authors.affiliation: Flemish Institute for Technological Research, Environmental Risk and Health, Mol, Belgium; Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
authors.forename: Greet
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Schoeters
authors.affiliation: Interuniversity Institute for Biostatistics and Statistical Bioinformatics, Hasselt University, Diepenbeek, Belgium.
authors.forename: Liesbeth
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bruckers
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Isabelle
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Sioen
authors.affiliation: Centre for Environmental Sciences, Hasselt University, Diepenbeek, Belgium.
authors.forename: Esmée
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bijnens
authors.affiliation: Centre for Environmental Sciences, Hasselt University, Diepenbeek, Belgium; Louvain Centre for Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology (LTAP), Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Harry A
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Roels
authors.affiliation: Department of Analytical and Environmental Chemistry, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Willy
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Baeyens
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Sint Dimphna Hospital, Geel, Belgium.
authors.forename: Mineke K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Viaene
authors.affiliation: Centre for Environmental Sciences, Hasselt University, Diepenbeek, Belgium; School of Public Health, Occupational and Environmental Medicine, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium. Electronic address: tim.nawrot@uhasselt.be.
authors.forename: Tim S
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Nawrot
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000097:blood / Q000633:toxicity*; D001288:Attention / Q000187:drug effects*; D001499:Bayes Theorem; D001530:Belgium; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000652:urine; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000032:analysis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007854:Lead / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000187:drug effects; D009048:Motor Skills / Q000187:drug effects; D013011:Sorbic Acid / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000032:analysis; D001335:Vehicle Emissions / Q000633:toxicity*
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D015415:Biomarkers; D001335:Vehicle Emissions; D007854:Lead; C005939:muconic acid; D013011:Sorbic Acid
keywords: Adolescents; Air pollution; Cognition; Neurobehavioral effects; Traffic