Association between ambient air pollution exposure and pubertal development: An ecological study

4区医学 Q3 Nursing

Endocrinologia, Diabetes y Nutricion Pub Date : 2026-05-01 Epub Date: 2025-12-26 DOI:10.1016/j.endinu.2025.501740

Diego Rivas-Otero , Tomás González-Vidal , Cristina Rodríguez-Dehli , Alicia Pérez-Pérez , Pablo Agüeria-Cabal , Aroa Alonso-Alonso , Miguel García-Villarino , Elías Delgado-Álvarez , Edelmiro Menéndez-Torre , Isolina Riaño-Galán

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background

The incidence rate of precocious puberty (PP) is rising, and ambient air pollutants may influence pubertal timing. This study explores the association between air pollution and PP and normal variants of puberty (NVP) in a Spanish pediatric population.

Methods

We conducted a retrospective ecological study in Asturias, Spain. Children ≤9 years diagnosed with PP or NVP between 2021 and 2024 were included. Data on pollutants (PM₁₀, PM_2.5, SO₂, NO₂, CO, O₃, NO, NO_x) from the 2 years prior to diagnosis were obtained from the nearest monitoring stations. The region was divided into 12 zones, yielding 48 zone-years across the 4-year study period. Incidence rates and mean pollutant levels were calculated for each zone. Each zone-year was classified as having high or low exposure according to the median pollutant concentration.

Results

A total of 96 children were diagnosed with central PP (n = 53), peripheral PP (n = 3) or NVP (n = 40). Overall PP incidence (either central or peripheral PP) was positively correlated with CO (rho = 0.479, p = 0.024) and NO_x (rho = 0.391, p = 0.033) concentrations. We found no statistically significant associations between the incidence of central PP and any air pollutant. However, there was a trend toward a positive correlation between central PP incidence and CO exposure (rho = 0.389; p = 0.074). In addition, central PP incidence was higher in high-exposure areas for all pollutants, although these differences were not statistically significant (p > 0.05).

Conclusions

The findings of our study suggest a possible environmental influence on PP that needs to be explored in larger, longitudinal studies.

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环境空气污染暴露与青春期发育的关系：一项生态学研究

性早熟（PP）的发病率正在上升，环境空气污染物可能会影响青春期的时间。本研究探讨了西班牙儿科人群中空气污染与PP和青春期正常变异（NVP）之间的关系。方法在西班牙阿斯图里亚斯进行回顾性生态学研究。在2021年至2024年间诊断为PP或NVP的儿童≤9岁。诊断前2年的污染物（PM10、PM2.5、SO2、NO2、CO、O3、NO、NOx）数据来自最近的监测站。该地区被划分为12个区域，在4年的研究期间产生了48个区域年。计算了每个区域的发病率和平均污染物水平。根据污染物浓度中位数，将每z1年分为高暴露和低暴露。结果96例患儿被诊断为中枢性PP（53例）、外周性PP（3例）和NVP（40例）。总PP发生率（中心或外周PP）与CO （rho = 0.479, p = 0.024）和NOx （rho = 0.391, p = 0.033）浓度呈正相关。我们没有发现中心PP发病率与任何空气污染物之间有统计学意义的关联。然而，中心PP发病率与CO暴露呈正相关趋势（rho = 0.389; p = 0.074）。此外，所有污染物的高暴露区中心PP发病率较高，尽管这些差异没有统计学意义（p > 0.05）。结论：我们的研究结果表明，环境对PP的可能影响需要在更大规模的纵向研究中进行探索。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Endocrinologia, Diabetes y Nutricion Nursing-Nutrition and Dietetics

CiteScore

2.10

自引率

0.00%

发文量

169

审稿时长

35 days

期刊介绍： Endocrinología, Diabetes y Nutrición is the official journal of the Spanish Society of Endocrinology and Nutrition (Sociedad Española de Endocrinología y Nutrición, SEEN) and the Spanish Society of Diabetes (Sociedad Española de Diabetes, SED), and was founded in 1954. The aim of the journal is to improve knowledge and be a useful tool in practice for clinical and laboratory specialists, trainee physicians, researchers, and nurses interested in endocrinology, diabetes, nutrition and related disciplines. It is an international journal published in Spanish (print and online) and English (online), covering different fields of endocrinology and metabolism, including diabetes, obesity, and nutrition disorders, as well as the most relevant research produced mainly in Spanish language territories. The quality of the contents is ensured by a prestigious national and international board, and by a selected panel of specialists involved in a rigorous peer review. The result is that only manuscripts containing high quality research and with utmost interest for clinicians and professionals related in the field are published. The Journal publishes Original clinical and research articles, Reviews, Special articles, Clinical Guidelines, Position Statements from both societies and Letters to the editor. Endocrinología, Diabetes y Nutrición can be found at Science Citation Index Expanded, Medline/PubMed and SCOPUS.