| 1. |
- Haanes, Jan Vilis, et al.
(författare)
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"Symptoms associated with environmental factors" (SAEF) - Towards a paradigm shift regarding "idiopathic environmental intolerance" and related phenomena
- 2020
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Ingår i: Journal of Psychosomatic Research. - : Elsevier. - 0022-3999 .- 1879-1360. ; 131
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Health conditions characterized by symptoms associated with chemical, physical and biological environmental factors unrelated to objectifiable pathophysiological mechanisms are often labelled by the general term "idiopathic environmental intolerances". More specific, exposure-related terms are also used, e.g. "multiple chemical sensitivities", "electromagnetic hypersensitivity" and "candidiasis hypersensitivity". The prevalence of the conditions varies from a few up to more than 50%, depending on definitions and populations. Based on evolving knowledge within this field, we provide arguments for a paradigm shift from terms focusing on exposure and intolerance/(hyper-)sensitivity towards a term more in line with the perceptual elements that seem to underlie these phenomena. Symptoms caused by established pathophysiologic mechanisms should not be included, e.g. allergic or toxicological conditions, lactose intolerance or infections. We discuss different alternatives for a new term/concept and end up proposing an open and descriptive term, "symptoms associated with environmental factors" (SAEF), including a definition. "Symptoms associated with environmental factors" both is in line with the current knowledge and acknowledge the experiences of the afflicted persons. Thus, the proposed concept is likely to facilitate therapy and communication between health professionals and afflicted persons, and to provide a base for better understanding of such phenomena in healthcare, society and science.
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| 2. |
- Pitron, Victor, et al.
(författare)
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Electrohypersensitivity is always real
- 2023
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Ingår i: Environmental Research. - : Elsevier. - 0013-9351 .- 1096-0953. ; 218
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Highlights:Electrohypersensitivty (EHS) represents a severely disabling condition.Symptom reports in EHS are unrelated to actual electromagnetic field exposure.A reductionist bio-electromagnetic approach fails to explain EHS.Empirical evidence suggests that nocebo effects strongly contribute to EHS.Spreading the myth about a (non-existing) EHS epidemic causes harm.
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| 3. |
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| 4. |
- Clark, Charlotte, et al.
(författare)
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Psychological restoration, coping strategies and children’s cognitive performance in the RANCH study
- 2006
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Ingår i: Proceedings of Inter-Noise 2006, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA, 3-6 December, 2006, Paper no in06_090 (Available on CD). ; :Paper no in06_090
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The RANCH study found a linear exposure effect association between chronic aircraft noise exposure at primary school and the impairment of children’s reading comprehension, in the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom. This paper presents multilevel modelling analyses, exploring psychological mechanisms, which may moderate the effect of aircraft noise on children’s cognition. Psychological restoration – the process whereby places which afford tranquility and relaxation are utilized to reduce stress and promote well being – has been shown to reduce the adverse effect of noise on children’s annoyance responses. This paper examines whether having places for psychological restoration at home, moderates the adverse effects of chronic aircraft noise exposure at school on children’s cognition. In addition, the effectiveness of coping strategies in relation to noise exposure at school are examined – are specific coping strategies associated with less impairment of cognition? Multi-level models examining the role of psychological restoration and coping strategies, as part of a broader model of environmental risk and protective factors for children’s cognition are presented. The implication of the findings for interventions for children attending noise exposed schools are discussed.
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| 5. |
- Persson Waye, Kerstin, 1959, et al.
(författare)
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Adopting a child perspective for exposome research on mental health and cognitive development - Conceptualisation and opportunities.
- 2023
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Ingår i: Environmental research. - 0013-9351 .- 1096-0953. ; 239:Pt 1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Mental disorders among children and adolescents pose a significant global challenge. The exposome framework covering the totality of internal, social and physical exposures over a lifetime provides opportunities to better understand the causes of and processes related to mental health, and cognitive functioning. The paper presents a conceptual framework on exposome, mental health, and cognitive development in children and adolescents, with potential mediating pathways, providing a possibility for interventions along the life course. The paper underscores the significance of adopting a child perspective to the exposome, acknowledging children's specific vulnerability, including differential exposures, susceptibility of effects and capacity to respond; their susceptibility during development and growth, highlighting neurodevelopmental processes from conception to young adulthood that are highly sensitive to external exposures. Further, critical periods when exposures may have significant effects on a child's development and future health are addressed. The paper stresses that children's behaviour, physiology, activity pattern and place for activities make them differently vulnerable to environmental pollutants, and calls for child-specific assessment methods, currently lacking within today's health frameworks. The importance of understanding the interplay between structure and agency is emphasized, where agency is guided by social structures and practices and vice-versa. An intersectional approach that acknowledges the interplay of social and physical exposures as well as a global and rural perspective on exposome is further pointed out. To advance the exposome field, interdisciplinary efforts that involve multiple scientific disciplines are crucial. By adopting a child perspective and incorporating an exposome approach, we can gain a comprehensive understanding of how exposures impact children's mental health and cognitive development leading to better outcomes.
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| 6. |
- van Kamp, Irene, et al.
(författare)
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Early environmental quality and life-course mental health effects: The Equal-Life project
- 2022
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Ingår i: Environmental Epidemiology. - 2474-7882. ; 6:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: There is increasing evidence that a complex interplay of factors within environments in which children grows up, contributes to children's suboptimal mental health and cognitive development. The concept of the life-course exposome helps to study the impact of the physical and social environment, including social inequities, on cognitive development and mental health over time. Methods: Equal-Life develops and tests combined exposures and their effects on children's mental health and cognitive development. Data from eight birth-cohorts and three school studies (N = 240.000) linked to exposure data, will provide insights and policy guidance into aspects of physical and social exposures hitherto untapped, at different scale levels and timeframes, while accounting for social inequities. Reasoning from the outcome point of view, relevant stakeholders participate in the formulation and validation of research questions, and in the formulation of environmental hazards. Exposure assessment combines GIS-based environmental indicators with omics approaches and new data sources, forming the early-life exposome. Statistical tools integrate data at different spatial and temporal granularity and combine exploratory machine learning models with hypothesis-driven causal modeling. Conclusions: Equal-Life contributes to the development and utilization of the exposome concept by (1) integrating the internal, physical and social exposomes, (2) studying a distinct set of life-course effects on a child's development and mental health (3) characterizing the child's environment at different developmental stages and in different activity spaces, (4) looking at supportive environments for child development, rather than merely pollutants, and (5) combining physical, social indicators with novel effect markers and using new data sources describing child activity patterns and environments.
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| 7. |
- van Kempen, Elise E.M.M., et al.
(författare)
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Children's annoyance reactions to aircraft and road traffic noise
- 2009
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Ingår i: Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. - : Acoustical Society of America. - 0001-4966 .- 1520-8524. ; 125:2, s. 895-904
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Since annoyance reactions of children to environmental noise have rarely been investigated, no source specific exposure-response relations are available. The aim of this paper is to investigate children’s reactions to aircraft and road traffic noise and to derive exposure-response relations. To this end, children’s annoyance reactions to aircraft and road traffic noise in both the home and the school setting were investigated using the data gathered in a cross-sectional multicenter study, carried out among 2844 children age 9–11 years attending 89 primary schools around three European airports. An exposure-response relation was demonstrated between exposure to aircraft noise at school LAeq, 7–23 h and severe annoyance in children: after adjustment for confounders, the percentage severely annoyed children was predicted to increase from about 5.1% at 50 dB to about 12.1% at 60 dB. The findings were consistent across the three samples. Aircraft noise at home LAeq,7–23 h demonstrated a similar relation with severe annoyance. Children attending schools with higher road traffic noise LAeq,7–23 h were more annoyed. Although children were less annoyed at levels above 55 dB, the shapes of the exposure-response relations found among children were comparable to those found in their parents.
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| 8. |
- van Kempen, Elise, et al.
(författare)
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The role of annoyance in the relation between transportation noise and children's health and cognition
- 2010
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Ingår i: Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. - : Acoustical Society of America (ASA). - 0001-4966 .- 1520-8524. ; 128:5, s. 2817-2828
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Onthe basis of this study it cannot be ruled outthat the appraisal of the noise affects the association betweenair and road traffic noise exposure and children's health andcognition. However, the conclusion is limited due to the relativelysmall group of annoyed children, which may have influenced ourgroup comparisons. Furthermore, the observed relation between annoyance and perceivedhealth is possibly biased due to the fact that bothwere measured within the same questionnaire. These are the mainconclusions of a cross-sectional multi-center study carried out among 2,844schoolchildren (age 9–11 years) attending 89 primary schools around threeEuropean airports. The aim was to investigate how annoyance affectsthe relation between air and road traffic noise exposure andchildren's health and cognition. Different, sometimes competing, working mechanisms ofhow noise affects children's health are suggested. Some effects aresupposed to be precipitated through (chronic) stress, while others mayarise directly. There is still no theory that can adequatelyaccount for the circumstances in which noise will affect cognitiveperformance.
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| 9. |
- Kamp, Irene van, et al.
(författare)
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The Effects of Noise Disturbed Sleep in Children on Cognitive Development and Long Term Health
- 2015
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Ingår i: Journal of Child Adolescent Behavior. - : OMICS Publishing Group. - 2375-4494. ; 3:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Undisturbed sleep is essential for physiological and psychological health. Children have a special need for uninterrupted sleep for growth and cognitive development. Noise is an environmental factor that affects most children, but the knowledge of how children's health, wellbeing and cognitive development are affected by noise disturbed sleep due to road traffic is very incomplete. It has been shown that although children are less likely to wake up or react with sleep cycle shifts due to nighttime exposure, they might be more likely to react with physiological effects such as blood pressure reactions and related motility during sleep. The aim of this paper is to formulate a set of hypotheses as a base for future studies into the short and long term effects of noise induced sleep deprivation on health and child development and how this effects health and wellbeing later on in life. Because the literature is still trying to understand the nature of sleep disturbance among children in general a scoping review was used to achieve this, combining conceptual issues with a description of the scarce literature on noise and sleep disturbance in children as example. Based on this a set of hypotheses was formulated. It is concluded that future studies into the health effect of environmental noise exposure in early life should address these potential hypotheses and mechanisms and pay specific attention to the mediating role of sleep related aspects, including noise in conjunction with other environmental exposures such as indoor climate and exposure to sounds and light from electronic devices.
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| 10. |
- Persson Waye, Kerstin, 1959, et al.
(författare)
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Acoustic intervention at preschools impact on children´s perception and response to high frequency sound qualities
- 2016
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the 22nd International Congress on Acoustics, Buenos Aires, ICA 2016, 5 to 9 September, 2016. - 2415-1599. - 9789872471361
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- At pre-schools personnel and children are known to be exposed to high sound levels. Tiredness and sound fatigue among the personnel are reported, while less is known about how children are affected. A previously developed interview protocol (INCH) was used to study the effect of an acoustic intervention at seven preschools. Before, 61 children aged 4-6 yrs were interviewed and 59 after. A reduction of the sound level in a range between 1 to 3 dB LpAeq was measured using stationary noise levels meters. The results were analysed using Generalised Estimating Equations accounting for repeated measure of the intervention. The results showed that a change in noise levels in the dining/activity room positively impacted on children’s perception of scraping and screeching sounds, frequency of reported tummy ache, and frequency of children reporting the teacher to speak with a raised voice. Perception of scraping sound per se, also impacted on angry reactions to scraping sounds, and children’s reporting on teachers speaking with raised voice. Although the intervention affected the noise levels only marginally, it seems to have influenced sound quality aspects related to the higher frequencies in the sound. The results are especially interesting given the new knowledge of children’s hearing.
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