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Ambient Air Pollution and Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Diseases: An Updated Scoping Review

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Abstract

To review and discuss recent findings on the associations between pediatric/early-life exposures to ambient air pollution and the risk of pediatric-onset inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). A scoping review was conducted using the Peters Micah et al. framework. We searched, selected, extracted, and reviewed information from published peer-reviewed papers from three bibliographic databases, chosen to cover a broad range of disciplines. Limits on date (last decade), language, and subject were placed on the database search. The search identified 109 papers from 2010 to June 2021. After screening, we identified nine articles with data on air pollution as a risk factor for IBD, but only four epidemiologic studies directly investigated the association between air pollution and IBD development in children and young adults. These four papers show that air pollution components have different associations with pediatric IBD (pIBD) incidence. Consequently, sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and the oxidant capacity of air pollution (Ox) were positively associated with pIBD incidence, whereas the association effects of particulate matter (PM) and ozone (O3) exposures were not clear. Despite good scientific rationale and some studies, the evidence on the role that air pollution has in IBD development is limited, highlighting the need for further investigation. Future studies should include the epidemiology of air pollutants and its sources, identifying and understanding mechanisms linking air pollution and pIBD, and identifying signatures of biological responses to air pollutants.

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Funding

This work was supported by the IMAGINE Chronic Disease Network, which is supported by a grant from the Canadian Institute of Health Research (Funding Reference Number: 1715-000-001) with funding from several partners.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition, Department of Paediatrics, University of Alberta, ECHA, Room 4-577, 11405 87 Ave, Edmonton, AB, T6G 1C9, Canada

    Ricardo G. Suarez & Eytan Wine

  2. Division of Immunology, Hematology, Oncology, Palliative Care & Environmental Health, Department of Paediatrics, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada

    Alvaro R. Osornio-Vargas

  3. Department of Physiology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada

    Eytan Wine

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  1. Ricardo G. Suarez
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Suarez, R.G., Osornio-Vargas, A.R. & Wine, E. Ambient Air Pollution and Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Diseases: An Updated Scoping Review. Dig Dis Sci 67, 4342–4354 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10620-022-07597-3

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