They find a relationship between pollution and hyperactivity
Live in the big city It has important benefits: there is always something to do, a place to go and there is always a place to shop. However, it also has many negative effects, such as living in an environment full of cars and other elements contaminants which in turn entail numerous health risks.
A greater chance of suffering from asthma, development of allergies and negative influence on pregnancy. These are just some of the effects that pollution has on people's lives. Now a study conducted by the Institute of Global Health of Barcelona, ISGlobal, and German health organizations have found another consequence: the presence of hyperactivity and other attention deficit disorders in adolescents.
Behavioral problems
Usually studies that seek to find the negative effects of pollution focus their influence on health problems such as heart or respiratory conditions. However, few focus on the influence of pollution on the behavior of people and whether it can cause the emergence of disorders such as hyperactivity.
On this occasion the researchers wanted to see if in the long term pollution could influence the behavior of people. This was followed closely by the cases of 4,745 children born in Munich and in areas close to this city. Other children from rural areas with little vehicle presence were also included in this sample.
In addition to following the evolution of these children, the researchers also collected data on the annual average of polluting elements in the environment where all these children lived. Specifically, this information belonged to three specific moments within the life of each one of them: moment of his birth, when he turns 10 years old and when he turns 15, he enters adolescence.
Pollution and hyperactivity
The data confirmed the thesis of the researchers. Those responsible for the study found that cases of hyperactivity and other attention disorders were related to children who had grown up in an environment where pollution had been highest. Or what is the same, those born in rural environments had been affected to a lesser extent by this type of disorder than those who grew up in areas near large cities.
Of course, researchers have warned that still have to do more studies in this regard. At the moment the relationship between contamination and hyperactivity has been found, although the reason why the first cause the second. Finding the germ of this correspondence will help to make more effective treatments against these disorders during childhood.
Damián Montero
