Climate change, air pollution, and pediatric health: Emerging evidence on respiratory disease, neurodevelopment, and childhood vulnerability

Climate change and air pollution are both interrelated environmental factors that pose health risks to children with potential lifelong impacts on respiratory health, neurodevelopment, and wellbeing. Children are especially vulnerable due to their immature organ systems, increased breathing rates compared to their body weights, and dependence on environmental quality established by the households, schools, and communities they belong to. Increased temperature, wildfires, a change in aeroallergens' distribution, and extreme weather events can increase the exposure to particulates and ozone and other forms of pollution. Exposures to such factors lead to respiratory infections, asthma exacerbations, poor lung development, and negative impacts on neurodevelopment. This risk is borne primarily by socioeconomically disadvantaged children, especially those from dense urban environments and low- and middle-income countries. While the connection between air pollution and respiratory disease is well-established, many questions about the effects of co-exposures to different environmental factors, vulnerable developmental periods, and long-term health outcomes remain unresolved. This literature review explores the connections between climate change, air pollution, respiratory disease, and childhood neurodevelopment. There will be specific emphasis on biological vulnerabilities, social disparities, and prevention strategies. Environmental health surveillance combined with pediatric care and public health policy could possibly decrease preventable childhood diseases.