Adult Disease Risk and Environmental Exposures During Infancy: An Overview

Introduction

Environmental pollution and other health risks during early life are significant reasons for childhood illness, deaths, and developmental issues. Moreover, they impact adulthood, causing health hazards in many developing countries. Environmental risk factors such as chemical exposures, improper sanitation, inadequate water intake, poor hygiene, climate change, air pollution, and radiation affect children more than adults due to the difference in physiology and body size, making them more vulnerable.

What Are the Environmental Factors Causing Health Hazards in Children?

• Infectious Diseases - Many vector-borne diseases can cause infections in children born in poor living conditions and deprived of access to health services. These diseases not only cause health risks to children but also affect pregnant women, causing low birth weight deliveries and an increase in the mortality rate of infants. In addition, infectious diseases like malaria, diarrhea, pneumonia, and tuberculosis (a bacterial illness that affects the lungs) cause severe health issues in children at a young age because their immune systems are not fully developed, making them susceptible to these environmental risk factors.

• Hazardous Chemical Exposure - Children have undeveloped cells, tissue, and organ systems that make them more vulnerable to chemical exposures. Also, the rate of absorption and elimination of the chemicals from the body is different in children than in adults. As a result, these chemicals cause reproductive and congenital disabilities in children, affect their developmental health, and lead to immunity compromise at a young age.

• Air Pollution - Polluted air affects millions of children worldwide and causes health hazards at an early stage of life. Lung diseases, neurodevelopmental growth issues, poor brain development, asthma, cardiovascular diseases, and premature and low birth weight are some significant diseases associated with air pollution and child growth.

• Poor Sanitation and Drinking Water - These environmental factors also contribute to health hazards in children, such as diarrhea, cholera, polio, and dysentery, which lead to fatigue, dehydration, and reduced immunity. Also,water-related illnesses can cause trachoma (blindness), cognitive impairment, and stunted growth in young children.

• Lead Exposure - Exposure to lead is a significant concern in many developing countries, and young children face dangerous health risks, mostly with brain development. Lead exposure also causes various health disorders at high doses, like hearing impairment, decreased fertility, kidney diseases, and anemia. In addition, ingestion of lead can cause more threats to the digestive system of children than adults.

• Malnutrition - Nutrition plays an essential role in child growth and development. Lack of nutrition in pregnant women can cause low birth weight and mental health consequences in infants. It also increases the risk of child mortality due to infections. In addition, malnutrition can cause impaired cognitive health, low physical development, and lower IQ in children.

• Radiation Exposure - Carcinogens and radiations present in many household products, food, personal care products, air, and water can cause cancer in later life in young children. Radiation exposure in the womb does not cause any harm to the baby. However, it can increase the risk of leukemia (blood cancer) and thyroid cancer in young children.

What Are the Effects of Environmental Exposure on Fetal and Childhood Growth?

• Fetal growth impairment is a significant threat to the world due to exposure to environmental factors. It causes low birth weights or rapid growth in children because of its association with various diseases like obesity, hypertension, diabetes, and cancer. In addition, these pollutants can quickly move across the placenta and cause growth impairment in the fetus and childhood, thus impacting adulthood.

• PFC (perfluorinated compounds) are organofluorine compounds that can affect fetal development and birth size because they can alter thyroid hormone functioning, which produces growth in humans, thus causing hormone disruption in fetal development. Humans are exposed to PFC through contaminated water, food, cosmetics, household products, cookware, or utensils.

• Heavy metals like arsenic, mercury, cadmium, or lead released from industrial waste or airborne inhalation also interfere with human growth and development. In addition, prenatal and postnatal exposures affect the newborn's health and adversely affect pregnancy outcomes.

• Air pollutants such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and ozone cause congenital heart diseases, affect brain development and lung growth in fetal life, and cause lifelong abnormalities.

• Cigarette smoke or maternal smoking habits can also affect the fetus and child's health by causing lung and brain defects due to nicotine and carbon monoxide in cigarettes.

What Are the Environmental Risk Factors That Can Result in Diseased Conditions?

Environmental factors that can result in diseased conditions are as follows:

• Pollution.

• Radiation.

• Noise.

• Land use patterns.

• Climate changes.

• Environmental work.

What Are the Common Diseases Caused by Environmental Exposure in Children?

• Asthma.

• Lung cancer.

• Respiratory infections.

• Neurodevelopmental issue.

• Infant mortality.

• Ischemic heart diseases.

• Pneumonia is inflammation of the air sac present in the lungs.

• Congenital disabilities.

• Autism, is a neurological impairment that affects the behavior of the person.

How To Prevent the Risk of Environmental Exposure in Children?

• Reducing environmental threats to children at community levels can help minimize the risk of exposure to infectious diseases such as malaria by maintaining proper sanitation and access to clean drinking water in public places.

• Monitoring the environmental factors that affect child growth and development and protecting the young generation from toxic exposures causing developmental and growth abnormalities.

• Improving sanitation and drinking water facilities enhances children's healthy growth and personal hygiene maintenance.

• Reducing exposure to air pollutants, such as tobacco and vehicle smoke, can cause respiratory disorders and deaths from pneumonia.

• Lead poisoning must be screened frequently, and the sources must be eliminated from society to reduce its hazardous effects.

• Chemical hazards like pesticides and disinfectants must be used cautiously because they can enter the food chain and cause damage to health and other defects.

Conclusion

Environmental exposures are essential risk factors causing congenital disabilities, functional and developmental disabilities, and other health diseases that affect the child during birth, and their effects can be lifelong. Exposure to harmful pollutants in the environment, socioeconomic factors, and the atmosphere in which a child is born impacts the health of a newborn. These exposures can be associated with neurodegenerative disorders, child behavior, developmental disorders, diabetes, renal, respiratory, and reproductive diseases from a young age up to adulthood.