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Luo YN, Yang BY, Zou Z, Markevych I, Browning MHEM, Heinrich J, Bao WW, Guo Y, Hu LW, Chen G, Ma J, Ma Y, Chen YJ, Dong GH. Associations of greenness surrounding schools with blood pressure and hypertension: A nationwide cross-sectional study of 61,229 children and adolescents in China. ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH 2022; 204:112004. [PMID: 34499893 DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2021.112004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/26/2021] [Revised: 08/31/2021] [Accepted: 09/01/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Greenness exposure may lower blood pressure. However, few studies of this relationship have been conducted with children and adolescents, especially in low and middle-income countries. OBJECTIVES To evaluate associations between greenness around schools and blood pressure among children and adolescents across China. METHODS We recruited 61,229 Chinese citizens aged 6-18 years from 94 schools in a nationwide cross-sectional study in seven Chinese provinces/province-level municipalities. Participants' blood pressures and hypertension were assessed with standardized protocols. Greenness levels within 500 m and 1,000 m of each school were estimated with three satellite-based indices: vegetation continuous fields (VCF), normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), and soil adjusted vegetation index (SAVI). Generalized linear mixed models were used to evaluate associations between greenness and blood pressure, greenness and prevalent hypertension, using coefficient and odds ratio respectively. Stratified analyses and mediation analyses were also performed. RESULTS One interquartile range increase in greenness was associated with a 17%-20% reduced prevalence of hypertension for all measures of greenness (odds ratios for VCF500m = 20% (95% CI:18%, 23%); for NDVI500m = 17% (95% CI:13%, 21%); and for SAVI500m = 17% (95% CI: 13%, 20%). Increases in greenness were also associated with reductions in systolic blood pressure (0.48-0.58 mmHg) and diastolic blood pressure (0.26-0.52 mmHg). Older participants, boys, and urban dwellers showed stronger associations than their counterparts. No evidence of mediation was observed for air pollution (i.e., NO2 and PM2.5) and body mass index. CONCLUSION Higher greenness around schools may lower blood pressure levels and prevalent hypertension among Chinese children and adolescents, particularly in older subjects, boys, and those living in urban districts. Further studies, preferably longitudinal, are needed to examine causality.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ya-Na Luo
- Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution and Health Risk Assessment, Guangdong Provincial Engineering Technology Research Center of Environmental and Health Risk Assessment, Department of Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510080, China
| | - Bo-Yi Yang
- Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution and Health Risk Assessment, Guangdong Provincial Engineering Technology Research Center of Environmental and Health Risk Assessment, Department of Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510080, China
| | - Zhiyong Zou
- Institute of Child and Adolescent Health, School of Public Health, Peking University, Beijing, 100191, China
| | - Iana Markevych
- Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland
| | - Matthew H E M Browning
- Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, 29634, USA
| | - Joachim Heinrich
- Institute and Clinic for Occupational, Social and Environmental Medicine, University Hospital, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich; Comprehensive Pneumology Center (CPC) Munich, Member DZL; German Center for Lung Research, Ziemssenstrasse 1, 80336, Munich, Germany; Allergy and Lung Health Unit, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
| | - Wen-Wen Bao
- Department of Maternal and Child Health, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510080, China
| | - Yuming Guo
- Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne VIC, 3004, Australia
| | - Li-Wen Hu
- Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution and Health Risk Assessment, Guangdong Provincial Engineering Technology Research Center of Environmental and Health Risk Assessment, Department of Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510080, China
| | - Gongbo Chen
- Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution and Health Risk Assessment, Guangdong Provincial Engineering Technology Research Center of Environmental and Health Risk Assessment, Department of Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510080, China
| | - Jun Ma
- Institute of Child and Adolescent Health, School of Public Health, Peking University, Beijing, 100191, China
| | - Yinghua Ma
- Institute of Child and Adolescent Health, School of Public Health, Peking University, Beijing, 100191, China.
| | - Ya-Jun Chen
- Department of Maternal and Child Health, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510080, China.
| | - Guang-Hui Dong
- Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution and Health Risk Assessment, Guangdong Provincial Engineering Technology Research Center of Environmental and Health Risk Assessment, Department of Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510080, China.
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Prenatal depression exposure alters white matter integrity and neurodevelopment in early childhood. Brain Imaging Behav 2022; 16:1324-1336. [PMID: 35000066 PMCID: PMC9107412 DOI: 10.1007/s11682-021-00616-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/02/2021] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
Abstract
Prenatal exposure to maternal depression increases the risk for onset of emotional and behavioral disorders in children. We investigated the effects of exposure to prenatal depression on white matter microstructural integrity at birth and at 2-3 years, and associated neurodevelopment. Diffusion-weighted images were acquired for children of the Drakenstein Child Health Study at 2-4 weeks postpartum (n=70, 47% boys) and at 2-3 years of age (n=60, 58% boys). Tract-Based Spatial Statistics was used to compare, using an ROI based approach, diffusion tensor metrics across groups defined by presence (>19 on Beck's Depression Inventory and/or >12 on the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale) or absence (below depression thresholds) of depression, and associations with neurodevelopmental measures at age 2-3 years were determined. We did not detect group differences in white matter integrity at neonatal age, but at 2-3 years, children in the exposed group demonstrated higher fractional anisotropy, and lower mean and radial diffusivity in association tracts compared to controls. This was notable in the sagittal stratum (radial diffusivity: p<0.01). Altered white matter integrity metrics were also observed in projection tracts, including the corona radiata, which associated with cognitive and motor outcomes in exposed 2-3-year-olds (p<0.05). Our findings of widespread white matter alterations in 2-3-year-old children with prenatal exposure to depression are consistent with previous findings, as well as with neuroimaging findings in adults with major depression. Further, we identified novel associations of altered white matter integrity with cognitive development in depression-exposed children, suggesting that these neuroimaging findings may have early functional impact.
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Spindler M, Thiel CM. Quantitative magnetic resonance imaging for segmentation and white matter extraction of the hypothalamus. J Neurosci Res 2021; 100:564-577. [PMID: 34850453 DOI: 10.1002/jnr.24988] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/08/2021] [Revised: 10/05/2021] [Accepted: 10/12/2021] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Since the hypothalamus is involved in many neuroendocrine, metabolic, and affective disorders, detailed hypothalamic imaging has become of major interest to better characterize disease-induced tissue damages and abnormalities. Still, image contrast of conventional anatomical magnetic resonance imaging lacks morphological detail, thus complicating complete and precise segmentation of the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus' position lateral to the third ventricle and close proximity to white matter tracts including the optic tract, fornix, and mammillothalamic tract display one of the remaining shortcomings of hypothalamic segmentation, as reliable exclusion of white matter is not yet possible. Recent studies found that quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (qMRI), a method to create maps of different standardized tissue contents, improved segmentation of cortical and subcortical brain regions. So far, this has not been tested for the hypothalamus. Therefore, in this study, we investigated the usability of qMRI and diffusion MRI for the purpose of detailed and reproducible manual segmentation of the hypothalamus and data-driven white matter extraction and compared our results to recent state-of-the-art segmentations. Our results show that qMRI presents good contrast for delineation of the hypothalamus and white matter, and that the properties of these images differ between subunits, such that they can be used to reliably exclude white matter from hypothalamic tissue. We propose that qMRI poses a useful addition to detailed hypothalamic segmentation and volumetry.
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Affiliation(s)
- Melanie Spindler
- Biological Psychology, Department of Psychology, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany
| | - Christiane M Thiel
- Biological Psychology, Department of Psychology, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany.,Cluster of Excellence "Hearing4all", Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany.,Research Centre Neurosensory Science, Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany
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Crespo-Sanmiguel I, Zapater-Fajarí M, Pulopulos MM, Hidalgo V, Salvador A. Loneliness Mediates the Relationship Between Early Life Stress and Perceived Stress but not Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis Functioning. Front Psychol 2021; 12:647265. [PMID: 34539480 PMCID: PMC8446206 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.647265] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/04/2021] [Accepted: 07/23/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Many authors have proposed that early life stress (ELS) provokes a dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and contributes negatively to the management of stress in adulthood. However, these associations have not always been observed, making it necessary to include new factors that could explain the different results found. In this regard, people with ELS experiences report less social support during adulthood, suggesting that loneliness could be a mediating factor. Thus, our aims were to investigate whether ELS was related to both perceived stress and diurnal HPA axis activity, and whether loneliness mediates these relationships, in a community sample (N=187, 18-55years old). Fourteen cortisol samples were collected on two non-consecutive days to obtain the overall diurnal cortisol, diurnal cortisol slope, and bedtime levels. Additionally, ELS was assessed with the Risky Families Questionnaire (RFQ) and the Recalled Childhood and Adolescence Perceived Stress (ReCAPS) measure. Results revealed that ELS was associated with perceived stress, but not HPA axis functioning, and loneliness mediated the relationship between ELS and perceived stress, but not between ELS and HPA axis functioning. Similar results were found for both ELS questionnaires, suggesting that the ReCAPS is an adequate tool. These results highlight the importance of loneliness in understanding the long-term effects of ELS, and they indicate different effects of ELS on subjective and physiological stress indicators.
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Affiliation(s)
- Isabel Crespo-Sanmiguel
- Laboratory of Social Cognitive Neuroscience, Psychobiology-IDOCAL, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain
| | - Mariola Zapater-Fajarí
- Laboratory of Social Cognitive Neuroscience, Psychobiology-IDOCAL, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain
| | - Matias M Pulopulos
- Department of Psychology and Sociology, Area of Psychobiology, IIS Aragón, University of Zaragoza, Teruel, Spain
| | - Vanesa Hidalgo
- Department of Psychology and Sociology, Area of Psychobiology, IIS Aragón, University of Zaragoza, Teruel, Spain
| | - Alicia Salvador
- Laboratory of Social Cognitive Neuroscience, Psychobiology-IDOCAL, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain
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