Exposure to environmental risk factors is closely related to human health. Particularly, children are more vulnerable to environmental risk factors than adults because they have proportionately greater exposures to toxic chemicals in the environment based on weight, immature metabolic pathways, easily disrupted developmental processes, etc. Along with the rapid socioeconomic development in recent decades, a series of traditional and emerging environmental risk factors have been found to be associated with adverse health outcomes (e.g., slowed physical growth and intelligence quotient development, neurobehavioral changes, psychological problems) in children in modern society. Such issues are particularly prevalent in urban areas and are already affecting hundreds of millions of children globally. In 2015, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that more than a quarter of the 5.9 million deaths worldwide in children less than 5 years old could be prevented with removal of environmental risks factors. Exposures to environmental risk factors in early life can have immediate effects or build over time to increase disease risk later in life. However, the health effects of traditional and emerging environmental risk factors on children have not been fully understood in modern society and thus require further investigation.
Exploring the associations between environmental factors and children’s health is helpful to identify the most important environmental risk factors with strong impact on children’ health. Moreover, it could provide evidence for making effective preventive measures to improve children’s health. Nevertheless, the relationship between several important environmental factors such as air pollution, climate change, urban built environment and children’s health and the related underlying mechanisms has not been fully understood. In addition, whether some mitigation strategies (e.g., greenness, blue space) could alleviate the adverse health effects of environmental factors on children are also important questions of interest and require in-depth investigation. Therefore, this Research Topic hopes to explore the above-mentioned scientific questions and provide helpful implications for the formulation of related health policies to promote the children’s health in modern society.
We welcome Original Research and Reviews focusing on, but not limited to, the following subtopics:
• Air pollution (both outdoor and indoor) and children’s health
• Climate change and children’s health
• Urban built environment and children’s health
• Mitigation strategies (e.g., greenness, blue space) and children’s health
• The underlying mechanisms (e.g., epigenetic modifications) by which environmental factors as mentioned above affect the children’ health
• Interaction between environmental exposures and mitigation strategies on children’s health
Exposure to environmental risk factors is closely related to human health. Particularly, children are more vulnerable to environmental risk factors than adults because they have proportionately greater exposures to toxic chemicals in the environment based on weight, immature metabolic pathways, easily disrupted developmental processes, etc. Along with the rapid socioeconomic development in recent decades, a series of traditional and emerging environmental risk factors have been found to be associated with adverse health outcomes (e.g., slowed physical growth and intelligence quotient development, neurobehavioral changes, psychological problems) in children in modern society. Such issues are particularly prevalent in urban areas and are already affecting hundreds of millions of children globally. In 2015, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that more than a quarter of the 5.9 million deaths worldwide in children less than 5 years old could be prevented with removal of environmental risks factors. Exposures to environmental risk factors in early life can have immediate effects or build over time to increase disease risk later in life. However, the health effects of traditional and emerging environmental risk factors on children have not been fully understood in modern society and thus require further investigation.
Exploring the associations between environmental factors and children’s health is helpful to identify the most important environmental risk factors with strong impact on children’ health. Moreover, it could provide evidence for making effective preventive measures to improve children’s health. Nevertheless, the relationship between several important environmental factors such as air pollution, climate change, urban built environment and children’s health and the related underlying mechanisms has not been fully understood. In addition, whether some mitigation strategies (e.g., greenness, blue space) could alleviate the adverse health effects of environmental factors on children are also important questions of interest and require in-depth investigation. Therefore, this Research Topic hopes to explore the above-mentioned scientific questions and provide helpful implications for the formulation of related health policies to promote the children’s health in modern society.
We welcome Original Research and Reviews focusing on, but not limited to, the following subtopics:
• Air pollution (both outdoor and indoor) and children’s health
• Climate change and children’s health
• Urban built environment and children’s health
• Mitigation strategies (e.g., greenness, blue space) and children’s health
• The underlying mechanisms (e.g., epigenetic modifications) by which environmental factors as mentioned above affect the children’ health
• Interaction between environmental exposures and mitigation strategies on children’s health
