Ambient Concentrations of Metabolic Disrupting Chemicals and Children's Academic Achievement in El Paso, Texas.

Concerns about children's weight have steadily risen alongside the manufacture and use of myriad chemicals in the US. One class of chemicals, known as metabolic disruptors, interfere with human endocrine and metabolic functioning and are of specific concern to children's health and development. This article examines the effect of residential concentrations of metabolic disrupting chemicals on children's school performance for the first time.

Health Status and Residential Exposure to Air Toxics: What Are the Effects on Children's Academic Achievement?

This article examines the effects of children's subjective health status and exposure to residential environmental toxins on academic performance for the first time, while adjusting for school-level effects using generalized estimating equations. The analysis employs National Air Toxics Assessment risk estimates and individual-level data collected through a mail survey. Results indicate that poorer subjective health status and higher levels of residential air toxins are statistically significantly associated with lower grade point averages, meaning that there is an independent effect of air pollution on children's academic achievement that cannot be explained by poor health alone.

Residential exposure to air toxics is linked to lower grade point averages among school children in El Paso, Texas, USA.

Children in low-income neighborhoods tend to be disproportionately exposed to environmental toxicants. This is cause for concern because exposure to environmental toxicants negatively affect health, which can impair academic success. To date, it is unknown if associations between air toxics and academic performance found in previous school-level studies persist when studying individual children.

School-based exposure to hazardous air pollutants and grade point average: A multi-level study.

The problem of environmental health hazards around schools is serious but it has been neglected by researchers and analysts. This is concerning because children are highly susceptible to the effects of chemical hazards. Some ecological studies have demonstrated that higher school-level pollution is associated with lower aggregate school-level standardized test scores likely, related to increased respiratory illnesses and/or impaired cognitive development.

Can economic deprivation protect health? Paradoxical multilevel effects of poverty on Hispanic children's wheezing.

Prior research suggests that economic deprivation has a generally negative influence on residents' health. We employ hierarchical logistic regression modeling to test if economic deprivation presents respiratory health risks or benefits to Hispanic children living in the City of El Paso (Texas, USA) at neighborhood- and individual-levels, and whether individual-level health effects of economic deprivation vary based on neighborhood-level economic deprivation. Data come from the US Census Bureau and a population-based survey of El Paso schoolchildren.

Social disparities in children's respiratory health in El Paso, Texas.

The objectives of this study were to assess prevalence of children's respiratory health conditions and to measure and describe social disparities in children's respiratory problems and access to health resources for asthma/wheezing management. Data were collected through a cross-sectional, observational mail survey of all primary caretakers of 4th and 5th grade children in El Paso Independent School District (El Paso, TX, USA). 6295 primary caretakers received surveys at their home address and 1904 surveys were completed and returned for a 30% response rate.