Environmental health of children

Our plain-English summary of Environmental health of children, by A.M. Dunn, C. Burns, B. Sattler (Journal of Pediatric Health Care, 2003).

The study

• Authors: A.M. Dunn, C. Burns, B. Sattler
• Journal: Journal of Pediatric Health Care
• Published: 2003;17(5):223-31
• Cited by: 9 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

Abstract

Pediatric primary health care providers are responsible for providing comprehensive care to children. This includes assessing for and identifying the effect of environmental hazards on children's health and managing conditions that may result from exposure to environmental toxins. This article begins by reviewing the unique developmental, biologic, and behavioral characteristics of children and age-specific issues that make them particularly vulnerable to toxins. It then provides the reader with general assessment and management strategies related to environmental toxins, including an assessment tool that can be used in a pediatric primary care office. The qualities of selected toxins that have been implicated in childhood illnesses are discussed. Routes of exposure, signs and symptoms of toxicity, and assessment and management approaches are presented specifically for lead, mercury, environmental tobacco smoke, particulate matter, asbestos, radon, molds, and pesticides. Because prevention is the best intervention in environmental health, the article emphasizes ways pediatric providers can work with caregivers to prevent or minimize exposure.

In plain English

This 2003 article was a review for pediatric nurse practitioners and other primary care providers. It did not study any group of children. It explained why children may be especially vulnerable to toxins, offered a clinic screening questionnaire, and summarized sources, health effects and prevention for lead, mercury, pesticides, tobacco smoke, radon, particulate matter, asbestos, molds and PCBs. Asbestos appeared only briefly. It was listed among toxins school-aged children meet at school and home. The screening tool asked whether the home or school had exposed insulation, wires, broken tiles or flooring. A summary table listed construction materials as the source, with lung irritation and lung disease later in life with repeated exposure. The article did not name fiber types or specific asbestos diseases. Its prevention advice said it may be best to leave asbestos in place in buildings in good repair, and that parents exposed at work should remove clothing and bathe before coming in contact with children. The authors concluded that preventing exposure should be a first priority because toxic damage to children's development is often irreversible.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: narrative review / clinical overview for pediatric primary care providers; no original data
• Who was studied: No study population; the article discusses children in general, from the prenatal period through adolescence
• Exposure: Several environmental toxins (lead, mercury, pesticides, environmental tobacco smoke, radon, particulate matter, asbestos, molds, PCBs). Asbestos is mentioned as a toxin in school and home environments of school-aged children; no fiber types are named
• Main results:
  • The authors' screening tool asks parents about possible asbestos in the home or school
  • The summary table lists construction materials (insulation, ceiling and floor tiles, and shingles) as the source of asbestos
  • The summary table lists respiratory effects for asbestos: lung irritation and lung disease later in life with repeated exposure
  • Prevention advice in the table: if buildings containing asbestos are in good repair, it may be best to leave it in place
  • Prevention advice in the table: if a parent's workplace is a source of asbestos exposure, the parent should remove clothing and bathe before coming in contact with children
  • The authors state that laboratory tests are unreliable indicators of environmental exposure, and that the exposure history may be the best indicator
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that preventing exposure should be the first priority because toxin damage to children's development is often irreversible

Related studies

• Children's health in Latin America: the influence of environmental exposures — A. Laborde, F. Tomasina, et al. (2015)
• Environmental threats to children's health in Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific — W.A. Suk, K.M. Ruchirawat, et al. (2003)
• Children's environment in Central Europe: threats and chances — S. Böse-O'Reilly, U. Heudorf, et al. (2007)
• Environmental aftermath — L. Claudio (2001)
• Sri Lanka: report on its children's environmental health — H. Galappaththi (2020)
• What every physician should know about environmental health — C. Carlsten, J. Croke (1997)

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