Indoor air pollution inequalities among children and adolescents in Germany: an analysis of repeated cross-sectional data from GerES and KiGGS
Abstract Indoor air pollution may harm child health. Indoor air pollution inequalities among children and adolescents is under-researched. We analyzed associations between equivalized disposable income, socioeconomic status, and history of migration with benzene, toluene, xylene, limonene, and forma...
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Nature Portfolio
2025-06-01
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| Series: | Scientific Reports |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-04278-9 |
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| author | Jascha Wiehn Sarah Tietjen Florian Beese Wolfram Birmili Christiane Bunge Anja Daniels Annika Fernandez Lahore Domenica Hahn Marike Kolossa-Gehring Ronny Kuhnert Aline Murawski Julia Waldhauer Dario Zocholl André Conrad |
| author_facet | Jascha Wiehn Sarah Tietjen Florian Beese Wolfram Birmili Christiane Bunge Anja Daniels Annika Fernandez Lahore Domenica Hahn Marike Kolossa-Gehring Ronny Kuhnert Aline Murawski Julia Waldhauer Dario Zocholl André Conrad |
| author_sort | Jascha Wiehn |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Indoor air pollution may harm child health. Indoor air pollution inequalities among children and adolescents is under-researched. We analyzed associations between equivalized disposable income, socioeconomic status, and history of migration with benzene, toluene, xylene, limonene, and formaldehyde among children and adolescents in Germany. Using pooled data from the German Environmental Survey (GerES IV, GerES V) and the German Health Interview and Examination Survey for Children and Adolescents (KiGGS Baseline, KiGGS Wave 2) (N = 1117, aged 3–14 years), six out of fifteen random intercept models revealed statistically significant findings. An increase of one standard deviation in equivalized disposable income was associated with 5% lower benzene concentrations (exp(ß): 0.95, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.91, 0.99). Higher socioeconomic status was associated with a 10% decrease in benzene (exp(ß): 0.90, 95% CI 0.87, 0.94) and a 6% decrease in toluene (exp(ß): 0.94, 95% CI 0.89, 0.99). Having a parental history of migration was associated with 24% higher concentrations of formaldehyde (exp(ß): 1.24, 95% CI 1.07, 1.43) and 102% increased limonene concentrations (exp(ß): 2.02, 95% CI 1.61, 2.55). Subgroup analysis from urban municipalities showed only slight differences. Although results varied, they highlight that indoor air pollution is unequally distributed among children and adolescents in Germany. |
| format | Article |
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| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
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| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj-art-9fde936ec59b4e5b8e03b80c2e17dde62025-08-20T03:22:50ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222025-06-0115111210.1038/s41598-025-04278-9Indoor air pollution inequalities among children and adolescents in Germany: an analysis of repeated cross-sectional data from GerES and KiGGSJascha Wiehn0Sarah Tietjen1Florian Beese2Wolfram Birmili3Christiane Bunge4Anja Daniels5Annika Fernandez Lahore6Domenica Hahn7Marike Kolossa-Gehring8Ronny Kuhnert9Aline Murawski10Julia Waldhauer11Dario Zocholl12André Conrad13Department of Environmental Hygiene, German Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt)Department of Environmental Hygiene, German Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt)Department of Epidemiology and Health Monitoring, Robert Koch InstituteDepartment of Environmental Hygiene, German Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt)Department of Environmental Hygiene, German Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt)Department of Environmental Hygiene, German Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt)Department of Environmental Hygiene, German Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt)Department of Environmental Hygiene, German Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt)Department of Environmental Hygiene, German Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt)Department of Epidemiology and Health Monitoring, Robert Koch InstituteDepartment of Environmental Hygiene, German Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt)Department of Epidemiology and Health Monitoring, Robert Koch InstituteDepartment of Medical Biometrics, Informatics and Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of BonnDepartment of Environmental Hygiene, German Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt)Abstract Indoor air pollution may harm child health. Indoor air pollution inequalities among children and adolescents is under-researched. We analyzed associations between equivalized disposable income, socioeconomic status, and history of migration with benzene, toluene, xylene, limonene, and formaldehyde among children and adolescents in Germany. Using pooled data from the German Environmental Survey (GerES IV, GerES V) and the German Health Interview and Examination Survey for Children and Adolescents (KiGGS Baseline, KiGGS Wave 2) (N = 1117, aged 3–14 years), six out of fifteen random intercept models revealed statistically significant findings. An increase of one standard deviation in equivalized disposable income was associated with 5% lower benzene concentrations (exp(ß): 0.95, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.91, 0.99). Higher socioeconomic status was associated with a 10% decrease in benzene (exp(ß): 0.90, 95% CI 0.87, 0.94) and a 6% decrease in toluene (exp(ß): 0.94, 95% CI 0.89, 0.99). Having a parental history of migration was associated with 24% higher concentrations of formaldehyde (exp(ß): 1.24, 95% CI 1.07, 1.43) and 102% increased limonene concentrations (exp(ß): 2.02, 95% CI 1.61, 2.55). Subgroup analysis from urban municipalities showed only slight differences. Although results varied, they highlight that indoor air pollution is unequally distributed among children and adolescents in Germany.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-04278-9 |
| spellingShingle | Jascha Wiehn Sarah Tietjen Florian Beese Wolfram Birmili Christiane Bunge Anja Daniels Annika Fernandez Lahore Domenica Hahn Marike Kolossa-Gehring Ronny Kuhnert Aline Murawski Julia Waldhauer Dario Zocholl André Conrad Indoor air pollution inequalities among children and adolescents in Germany: an analysis of repeated cross-sectional data from GerES and KiGGS Scientific Reports |
| title | Indoor air pollution inequalities among children and adolescents in Germany: an analysis of repeated cross-sectional data from GerES and KiGGS |
| title_full | Indoor air pollution inequalities among children and adolescents in Germany: an analysis of repeated cross-sectional data from GerES and KiGGS |
| title_fullStr | Indoor air pollution inequalities among children and adolescents in Germany: an analysis of repeated cross-sectional data from GerES and KiGGS |
| title_full_unstemmed | Indoor air pollution inequalities among children and adolescents in Germany: an analysis of repeated cross-sectional data from GerES and KiGGS |
| title_short | Indoor air pollution inequalities among children and adolescents in Germany: an analysis of repeated cross-sectional data from GerES and KiGGS |
| title_sort | indoor air pollution inequalities among children and adolescents in germany an analysis of repeated cross sectional data from geres and kiggs |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-04278-9 |
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