Aging
Association between prenatal PM2.5 exposure and telomere length among school-age children Hsin-Yi Huang* Hsin-Yi Huang Huang Huang Huang Huang Huang Huang Institute of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Background: Telomere length is a marker of biological aging that reflects cumulative oxidative stress and inflammation. While prenatal PM2.5 exposure has been associated with telomere length at birth, its influence on telomere length during childhood remains uncertain and unstudied. This study evaluated the association between prenatal PM2.5 exposure and telomere length in school-age children to provide insights into environmental influences on molecular longevity.
Methods: We recruited 1,278 singleton children (mean age: 6.4 years; 43.7% of girls) from the LIGHTS cohort in Taiwan. Telomere length was measured by quantitative real-time PCR at the age of 5-8 years. Prenatal PM2.5 exposure was estimated using hybrid kriging-land use regression models with XGBoost algorithm. A distributed lag non-linear model (DLNM) was applied to evaluate the association between weekly prenatal PM2.5 exposures and childhood telomere length, allowing identification of sensitive exposure windows.
Results: A 10-µg/m3 increment in prenatal PM2.5 exposure during the entire pregnancy was associated with 5.3% (95% CI, -10.3% to -0.2%) shorter telomere length in childhood. DLNM models identified late gestation (28–30 weeks) as a critical window for inverse associations. In stratified analyses, the inverse association between prenatal PM2.5 exposure and childhood telomere length remained statistically significant and more robust within specific strata, including girls, children exposed to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), and those exclusively breastfeeding for less than 3 months.
Conclusion: This cohort study suggests an association between prenatal PM2.5 exposure and shorter telomere length in school-age children, particularly among girls, those exposed to ETS, and those who were not breastfed.