Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Prenatal exposure to airborne polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and IQ: Estimated benefit of pollution reduction

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Journal of Public Health Policy Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Outdoor air pollution, largely from fossil fuel burning, is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States, costing billions of dollars every year in health care and loss of productivity. The developing fetus and young child are especially vulnerable to neurotoxicants, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) released to ambient air by combustion of fossil fuel and other organic material. Low-income populations are disproportionately exposed to air pollution. On the basis of the results of a prospective cohort study in a low-income population in New York City (NYC) that found a significant inverse association between child IQ and prenatal exposure to airborne PAH, we estimated the increase in IQ and related lifetime earnings in a low-income urban population as a result of a hypothesized modest reduction of ambient PAH concentrations in NYC of 0.25 ng/m3. For reference, the current estimated annual mean PAH concentration is ~1 ng/m3. Restricting to NYC Medicaid births and using a 5 per cent discount rate, we estimated the gain in lifetime earnings due to IQ increase for a single year cohort to be US$215 million (best estimate). Using much more conservative assumptions, the estimate was $43 million. This analysis suggests that a modest reduction in ambient concentrations of PAH is associated with substantial economic benefits to children.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • American Lung Association. (2013) State of the Air 2013 Report.

  • Trasande, L. and Liu, Y. (2011) Reducing the staggering costs of environmental disease in children, estimated at $76.6 billion in 2008. Health Affairs (Millwood) 30 (5): 863–870.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Landrigan, P.J., Schechter, C.B., Lipton, J.M., Fahs, M.C. and Schwartz, J. (2002) Environmental pollutants and disease in American children: Estimates of morbidity, mortality, and costs for lead poisoning, asthma, cancer, and developmental disabilities. Environmental Health Perspectives 110 (7): 721–728.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Olden, K., Ramos, R.M. and Freudenberg, N. (2009) To reduce urban disparities in health, strengthen and enforce equitably environmental and consumer laws. Journal of Urban Health 86 (6): 819–824.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Perera, F.P. et al (2002) The challenge of preventing environmentally related disease in young children: Community-based research in New York City. Environmental Health Perspectives 110 (2): 197–204.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Claudio, L., Tulton, L., Doucette, J. and Landrigan, P.J. (1999) Socioeconomic factors and asthma hospitalization rates in New York City. Journal of Asthma 36 (4): 343–350.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Federico, M.J. and Liu, A.H. (2003) Overcoming childhood asthma disparities of the inner-city poor. Pediatric Clinics of North America 50 (3): 655–675.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • New York City Department of Health. (1998) Vital Statistics. New York City: New York City Department of Health.

  • NRC. (1993) Pesticides in the Diets of Infants and Children. Washington DC: National Academy Press.

  • Perera, F.P. et al (2004) Biomarkers in maternal and newborn blood indicate heightened fetal susceptibility to procarcinogenic DNA damage. Environmental Health Perspectives 112 (10): 1133–1136.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • World Health Organization. (1986) Principles for Evaluating Health Risks from Chemicals During Infancy and Early Childhood: The Need for a Special Approach. Environmental Health Criteria 59. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization.

  • Grandjean, P. and Landrigan, P.J. (2006) Developmental neurotoxicity of industrial chemicals. Lancet 368 (9553): 2167–2178.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Perera, F.P. et al (2012) Prenatal polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) exposure and child behavior at age 6–7. Environmental Health Perspectives 120 (6): 921–926.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wormley, D.D. et al (2004) Inhaled benzo(a)pyrene impairs long-term potentiation in the F1 generation rat dentate gyrus. Cellular and Molecular Biology (Noisy-le-grand) 50 (6): 715–721.

    Google Scholar 

  • Perera, F.P. et al (2006) Effect of prenatal exposure to airborne polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons on neurodevelopment in the first 3 years of life among inner-city children. Environmental Health Perspectives 114 (8): 1287–1292.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Perera, F.P. et al (2009) Prenatal airborne polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon exposure and child IQ at age 5 years. Pediatrics 124 (2): e195–e202.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grosse, S.D., Matte, T.D., Schwartz, J. and Jackson, R.J. (2002) Economic gains resulting from the reduction in children’s exposure to lead in the United States. Environmental Health Perspectives 110 (6): 563–569.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Trasande, L., Landrigan, P.J. and Schechter, C. (2005) Public health and economic consequences of methyl mercury toxicity to the developing brain. Environmental Health Perspectives 113 (5): 590–596.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jusko, T.A., Henderson, C.R., Lanphear, B.P., Cory-Slechta, D.A., Parsons, P.J. and Canfield, R.L. (2008) Blood lead concentrations<10 microg/dL and child intelligence at 6 years of age. Environmental Health Perspectives 116 (2): 243–248.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pleil, J.D., Vette, A.F., Johnson, B.A. and Rappaport, S.M. (2004) Air levels of carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons after the World Trade Center disaster. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 101 (32): 11685–11688.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rundle, A.H. et al (2012) Association of childhood obesity with maternal exposure to ambient air polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons during pregnancy. American Journal of Epidemiology 175 (11): 1163–1172.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Choi, H. et al (2008) Estimating individual-level exposure to airborne polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons throughout the gestational period based on personal, indoor, and outdoor monitoring. Environmental Health Perspectives 116 (11): 1509–1518.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Naumova, Y.Y. et al (2002) Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the indoor and outdoor air of three cities in the U.S. Environmental Science and Technology 36 (12): 2552–2559.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weiland, K., Neidell, M., Rauh, V. and Perera, F. (2011) Cost of developmental delay from prenatal exposure to airborne polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved 22 (1): 320–329.

    Google Scholar 

  • The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. (2009) The New York city community air survey: Results from year one monitoring 2008–2009 Stevens L.M. (ed.) New York: New York City Health Department.

  • Li, W., Kelley, D. and Kennedy, J. (2003) Summary of Vital Statistics 2002: NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

  • Grosse, S.D. (2007) How much does IQ raise earnings? Implications for regulatory impact analyses. Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (AERE) 27 (2): 44.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heckman James, J., Stixrud, J. and Urzua, S. (2006) The effects of cognitive and noncognitive abilities on labor market outcomes and social behavior. Journal of Labor Economics 24 (3): 411–482.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gold, M.R., Siegel, J.E., Russel, L.B. and Weinstein, M.C. (eds.) (1996) Cost Effectiveness in Health and Medicine. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller, R.L. et al (2004) Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, environmental tobacco smoke, and respiratory symptoms in an inner-city birth cohort. Chest 126 (4): 1071–1078.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bostrom, C.E. et al (2002) Cancer risk assessment, indicators, and guidelines for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the ambient air. Environmental Health Perspectives 110 (Supplement 3): 451–488.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kaplan, C. (1996) Predictive validity of the WPPSI-R: A four year follow-up study. Psychology in the Schools 33 (3): 211–220.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lemelin, J. P. et al (2007) The genetic-environmental etiology of cognitive school readiness and later academic achievement in early childhood. Child Development 78 (6): 1855–1869.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sheffield, P., Roy, A., Wong, K. and Trasande, L. (2011) Fine particulate matter pollution linked to respiratory illness in infants and increased hospital costs. Health Affairs (Millwood) 30 (5): 871–878.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kan, H. and Chen, B. (2004) Particulate air pollution in urban areas of Shanghai, China: Health-based economic assessment. Science of the Total Environment 322 (1–3): 71–79.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang, M., Song, Y. and Cai, X. (2007) A health-based assessment of particulate air pollution in urban areas of Beijing in 2000–2004. Science of the Total Environment 376 (1–3): 100–108.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pérez, L., Sunyer, J. and Künzli, N. (2009) Estimating the health and economic benefits associated with reducing air pollution in the Barcelona metropolitan area (Spain). Gaceta Sanitaria 23 (4): 287–294.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (grants 5P01ES09600, 5R01ES08977), the US Environmental Protection Agency (R827027, RD832141, RD83450901), the John and Wendy Neu Family Foundation, the John Merck Fund, the Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller Foundation, and the New York Community Trust supported this study. The authors also thank Dr Julien Teitler, Irwin Garfinkel, Barbara Simons, and Sara Tjossen for their helpful comments.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, USA

    Frederica Perera

  2. Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health, Columbia University, 722 W 168th Street, 12th floor, New York, 10032, NY, USA

    Frederica Perera & Shuang Wang

  3. Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Palo Alto, USA

    Katherine Weiland

  4. Department of Health Policy and Management, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, USA

    Katherine Weiland & Matthew Neidell

  5. Department of Biostatistics, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, USA

    Shuang Wang

Authors
  1. Frederica Perera
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Katherine Weiland
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Matthew Neidell
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Shuang Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Frederica Perera.

Additional information

A careful look at exposures to airborne polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, helped the authors estimate the effect on the IQ of children in New York City. They estimate the benefits of reducing exposures.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Perera, F., Weiland, K., Neidell, M. et al. Prenatal exposure to airborne polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and IQ: Estimated benefit of pollution reduction. J Public Health Pol 35, 327–336 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1057/jphp.2014.14

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/jphp.2014.14

Keywords

Search

Navigation