Associations between combined urban and lifestyle factors and respiratory health in European children.

Introduction: Previous studies identified some environmental and lifestyle factors independently associated with children respiratory health, but few focused on exposure mixture effects. This study aimed at identifying, in pregnancy and in childhood, combined urban and lifestyle environment profiles associated with respiratory health in children.

Methods: This study is based on the European Human Early-Life Exposome (HELIX) project, combining six birth cohorts.

Availability, accessibility, and use of green spaces and cognitive development in primary school children.

Green spaces may have beneficial impacts on children's cognition. However, few studies explored the exposure to green spaces beyond residential areas, and their availability, accessibility and uses at the same time. The aim of the present study was to describe patterns of availability, accessibility, and uses of green spaces among primary school children and to explore how these exposure dimensions are associated with cognitive development.

Prenatal and childhood exposure to air pollution and traffic and the risk of liver injury in European children.

Unlabelled: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is the most prevalent pediatric chronic liver disease. Experimental studies suggest effects of air pollution and traffic exposure on liver injury. We present the first large-scale human study to evaluate associations of prenatal and childhood air pollution and traffic exposure with liver injury.

Tinnitus and associations with chronic pain: The population-based Tromsø Study (2015-2016).

Tinnitus and pain have many similarities. Both are subjective sensations that may turn chronic, they are often accompanied by hypersensitivity in their respective sensory system, and overlapping brain changes have been observed. Since no population study has examined the empirical association between chronic pain and tinnitus, the present study aimed to explore the relationship in a general adult population.

Long-term low-level ambient air pollution exposure and risk of lung cancer - A pooled analysis of 7 European cohorts.

Background/aim: Ambient air pollution has been associated with lung cancer, but the shape of the exposure-response function - especially at low exposure levels - is not well described. The aim of this study was to address the relationship between long-term low-level air pollution exposure and lung cancer incidence.

Methods: The "Effects of Low-level Air Pollution: a Study in Europe" (ELAPSE) collaboration pools seven cohorts from across Europe.

Linking green infrastructure to urban heat and human health risk mitigation in Oslo, Norway.

The predicted extreme temperatures of global warming are magnified in cities due to the urban heat island effect. Even if the target for average temperature increase in the Paris Climate Agreement is met, temperatures during the hottest month in a northern city like Oslo are predicted to rise by over 5 °C by 2050. We hypothesised that heat-related diagnoses for heat-sensitive citizens (75+) in Oslo are correlated to monthly air temperatures, and that green infrastructure such as tree canopy cover reduces extreme land surface temperatures and thus reduces health risk from heat exposure.

Early-Life Environmental Exposures and Blood Pressure in Children.

Background: Growing evidence exists about the fetal and environmental origins of hypertension, but mainly limited to single-exposure studies. The exposome has been proposed as a more holistic approach by studying many exposures simultaneously.

Objectives: This study aims to evaluate the association between a wide range of prenatal and postnatal exposures and blood pressure (BP) in children.

Agreement between self-reported and registry-based use of sleep medications and tranquilizers.

Purpose: The purpose of the present study was to assess the agreement between self-reported use of sleep medications and tranquilizers and dispensed hypnotics and anxiolytics.

Methods: Self-reported medication use was obtained from the population-based survey Health and Environment in Oslo (HELMILO) (2009-2010) (n = 13 019). Data on dispensed hypnotics and anxiolytics were obtained from the Norwegian Prescription Database (NorPD).

Influence of the Urban Exposome on Birth Weight.

Background: The exposome is defined as the totality of environmental exposures from conception onwards. It calls for providing a holistic view of environmental exposures and their effects on human health by evaluating multiple environmental exposures simultaneously during critical periods of life.

Objective: We evaluated the association of the urban exposome with birth weight.

The early-life exposome: Description and patterns in six European countries.

Characterization of the "exposome", the set of all environmental factors that one is exposed to from conception onwards, has been advocated to better understand the role of environmental factors on chronic diseases. Here, we aimed to describe the early-life exposome. Specifically, we focused on the correlations between multiple environmental exposures, their patterns and their variability across European regions and across time (pregnancy and childhood periods).

Particulate matter air pollution components and incidence of cancers of the stomach and the upper aerodigestive tract in the European Study of Cohorts of Air Pollution Effects (ESCAPE).

Introduction: Previous analysis from the large European multicentre ESCAPE study showed an association of ambient particulate matter <2.5 μm (PM) air pollution exposure at residence with the incidence of gastric cancer. It is unclear which components of PM are most relevant for gastric and also upper aerodigestive tract (UADT) cancer and some of them may not be strongly correlated with PM mass.

A Longitudinal Study of Road Traffic Noise and Body Mass Index Trajectories from Birth to 8 Years.

Background: Being overweight constitutes a health risk, and the proportion of overweight and obese children is increasing. It has been argued that road traffic noise could be linked to adiposity through its influence on sleep and stress. Few studies, to our knowledge, have investigated whether noise and adiposity are associated.

Air pollution and incidence of cancers of the stomach and the upper aerodigestive tract in the European Study of Cohorts for Air Pollution Effects (ESCAPE).

Air pollution has been classified as carcinogenic to humans. However, to date little is known about the relevance for cancers of the stomach and upper aerodigestive tract (UADT). We investigated the association of long-term exposure to ambient air pollution with incidence of gastric and UADT cancer in 11 European cohorts.

Road traffic noise and children's inattention.

Background: An increasing number of children are exposed to road traffic noise levels that may lead to adverse effects on health and daily functioning. Childhood is a period of intense growth and brain maturation, and children may therefore be especially vulnerable to road traffic noise. The objective of the present study was to examine whether road traffic noise was associated with reported inattention symptoms in children, and whether this association was mediated by sleep duration.

Road traffic noise and registry based use of sleep medication.

Background: Road traffic noise has been associated with adverse health effects including sleep disturbances. Use of sleep medication as an indicator of sleeping problems has rarely been explored in studies of the effects of traffic noise. Furthermore, using registry data on sleep medications provides an opportunity to study the effects of noise on sleep where attribution of sleep problems to noise is not possible.

Is There an Association Between Ambient Air Pollution and Bladder Cancer Incidence? Analysis of 15 European Cohorts.

Background: Ambient air pollution contains low concentrations of carcinogens implicated in the etiology of urinary bladder cancer (BC). Little is known about whether exposure to air pollution influences BC in the general population.

Objective: To evaluate the association between long-term exposure to ambient air pollution and BC incidence.

Nocturnal Road Traffic Noise Exposure and Children's Sleep Duration and Sleep Problems.

Almost half of the European Union (EU)'s population is exposed to road traffic noise above levels that constitute a health risk. Associations between road traffic noise and impaired sleep in adults have consistently been reported. Less is known about effects of noise on children's sleep.

Outdoor air pollution and risk for kidney parenchyma cancer in 14 European cohorts.

Several studies have indicated weakly increased risk for kidney cancer among occupational groups exposed to gasoline vapors, engine exhaust, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and other air pollutants, although not consistently. It was the aim to investigate possible associations between outdoor air pollution at the residence and the incidence of kidney parenchyma cancer in the general population. We used data from 14 European cohorts from the ESCAPE study.

Exposure to traffic noise and markers of obesity.

Objectives: Limited evidence suggests adverse effects of traffic noise exposure on the metabolic system. This study investigates the association between road traffic noise and obesity markers as well as the role of combined exposure to multiple sources of traffic noise.

Methods: In a cross-sectional study performed in 2002-2006, we assessed exposure to noise from road traffic, railways and aircraft at the residences of 5075 Swedish men and women, primarily from suburban and semirural areas of Stockholm County.

Road traffic noise and markers of obesity - a population-based study.

Background: Noise has been found to be associated with endocrine changes and cardiovascular disease. Increased cortisol levels and chronic sleep problems due to noise may increase the risk of obesity.

Objectives: We investigated the relationship between road traffic noise and obesity markers.

Road traffic noise, sleep and mental health.

This study examines the relationship between road traffic noise, self-reported sleep quality and mental health. The study is cross-sectional and based on data from a survey conducted in Oslo, Norway, in 2000. Psychological distress (Hopkins Symptom Checklist, HSCL-25) was measured along with self-reported somatic health, sleep quality, noise sensitivity and socioeconomic variables.

Occupation and the risk of bothersome tinnitus: results from a prospective cohort study (HUNT).

Objectives Estimates of occupation-specific tinnitus prevalence may help identify high-risk occupations where interventions are warranted. The authors studied the effect of occupation on prevalence of bothersome tinnitus and estimated the attributable fraction due to occupation. The authors also studied how much of the effect remained after adjusting for noise exposure, education income, hearing thresholds and other risk factors.

Heritability of hearing loss.

Background: Hearing impairment is one of the most common permanent disabilities in the western world. Although hearing ability normally declines with age, there is great individual variation in age of onset, progression, and severity, indicating that individual susceptibility plays a role. The aim of the present study was to explore the relative importance of genetic and environmental effects in the etiology of impaired hearing.

Effects of changed aircraft noise exposure on the use of outdoor recreational areas.

This paper examines behavioural responses to changes in aircraft noise exposure in local outdoor recreational areas near airports. Results from a panel study conducted in conjunction with the relocation of Norway's main airport in 1998 are presented. One recreational area was studied at each airport site.