A new observational study conducted as part of the Human Early Life Exposome (HELIX) project indicates that environmental exposures occurring during pregnancy and childhood can be linked to multiple aspects of health at the same time, with many of these identified associations persisting into adolescence. Published in the journal Science Advances, the investigation was led by researchers from the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), an institution supported by the “la Caixa” Foundation, in collaboration with the French National Institute for Health and Medical Research (Inserm). By evaluating a diverse array of early-life factors, the authors developed an atlas of associations between early environmental influences and health outcomes, highlighting elements such as tobacco smoke, indoor air pollution, dietary quality, and characteristics of the built environment that may hold significance for paediatric prevention strategies and public policy planning.
In environmental health science, the exposome refers to the totality of environmental exposures an individual encounters throughout the course of life, encompassing external factors such as dietary intake, tobacco smoke, and air pollution. Rather than evaluating each health consequence in isolation, the research team implemented an outcome-wide exposome approach to examine how early-life exposures relate to health across four specific domains: cardiometabolic health, mental health, respiratory outcomes, and allergic problems. Within these broader domains, the researchers evaluated distinct health parameters, assessing body mass index (BMI) and blood pressure for cardiometabolic health; attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms, internalising symptoms such as anxiety and depression, and externalising symptoms such as aggression and impulsivity for mental health; asthma and wheezing for respiratory health; and dermatitis and rhinitis within the allergic problems domain.
The study design relied on a comprehensive joint evaluation of early environmental conditions and longitudinal paediatric data. First author Augusto Anguita-Ruiz, a researcher at ISGlobal and the University of Barcelona, explained that this analytical framework allowed the team to jointly analyse associations between the early-life exposome and multiple health outcomes rather than examining each outcome independently. The research team utilized data spanning 69 distinct prenatal exposures alongside 129 childhood exposures, measuring these against 11 health outcomes. These clinical and behavioural parameters were recorded during childhood across ages 6 to 11 years and subsequently evaluated during adolescence across ages 12 to 18 years to track whether earlier observations remained consistent over developmental time.
Following their outcome-wide evaluation, the researchers identified six prenatal exposures and 42 childhood exposures that were simultaneously associated with multiple outcomes and health families. Valérie Siroux, an Inserm researcher and senior co-author of the investigation, pointed out that although no single exposure was associated with all four evaluated health domains, approximately one in three of the selected exposures was linked to more than one domain. According to Siroux, these findings suggest that particular early-life environmental exposures may exert broad and multisystemic effects on paediatric health, demonstrating that individual factors often correlate with multiple organ systems and physiological functions simultaneously rather than acting on single clinical endpoints.
The extensive spectrum of environmental factors examined in the study included lifestyle and behavioural elements such as diet, physical activity, sleep, and other personal habits, alongside physical exposures such as tobacco smoke, indoor and outdoor air pollution, chemical pollutants, metals, and the built environment. Among the specific findings highlighted by the authors, maternal smoking during pregnancy was associated with higher BMI and an increase in externalising behaviours in children during both early childhood and adolescence, as well as an increased burden of ADHD symptoms during adolescence. Furthermore, higher maternal meat intake during pregnancy was associated with several adverse mental health outcomes and childhood asthma, as well as with wheezing and dermatitis during the early-childhood years.
The findings also illustrated that many of the statistical associations documented between environmental exposures and health parameters during early childhood remained observable years later in adolescence. The research team noted that this longitudinal consistency suggests early environmental conditions may leave relatively durable health signatures across human development. To make these findings accessible to the scientific community, the project generated an open, interactive atlas of paediatric exposome–health associations. This public resource allows users to explore and visualize the identified relationships across environmental factors, health outcomes, and developmental stages, providing a foundational tool intended to support future research and aid in the generation of new scientific hypotheses.
While the study details extensive multisystemic associations, the authors emphasized critical limitations regarding how the data must be interpreted. Senior co-author Xavier Basagaña, an ISGlobal researcher, underscored that although the findings show that early-life environments may associate with different dimensions of health simultaneously and that many associations remain observable years later, the study does not establish that these exposures cause the observed health outcomes. Basagaña noted that because of the observational nature of the research, further studies conducted in larger and more diverse populations will be necessary to better comprehend these relationships and to determine whether modifying specific environmental exposures can successfully alter health trajectories across childhood and adolescence.
Subject of Research: Associations between early-life environmental exposures and paediatric health outcomes
Article Title: Early-life environmental factors linked to health across childhood and adolescence
Article References: Early-life environmental factors linked to health across childhood and adolescence. Original publication (Bibliographic details unavailable.)
Image Credits: AI Generated
DOI: Not provided
Keywords: Early-life exposome, HELIX project, Environmental exposures, Prenatal exposures, Childhood exposures, Adolescent health, Paediatric health atlas, Maternal smoking, Maternal meat intake, Indoor air pollution, Cardiometabolic health, Mental health, Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, Asthma, Dermatitis, Built environment, Outcome-wide exposome, ISGlobal, Observational study