Environmental exposures during pregnancy and childhood can be associated with multiple aspects of health at the same time, with many of these associations persisting into adolescence health, according to a new study led by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), a centre supported by the "la Caixa" Foundation, and in collaboration with the French National Institute for Health and Medical Research (Inserm). Published in Science Advances as part of the Human Early Life Exposome ( HELIX ) project, the study provides an atlas of associations between early-life environmental exposures and health, highlighting factors such as tobacco smoke, indoor air pollution, dietary quality and features of the built environment that may be relevant for prevention and policy action.
The exposome refers to the totality of environmental exposures a person experiences throughout life, including factors such as diet, tobacco smoke and air pollution. The researchers used an outcome-wide exposome approach to study their associations with health across four domains: cardiometabolic (Body Mass Index [BMI] and blood pressure); mental health (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder [ADHD], internalising symptoms, such as anxiety and depression, and externalising symptoms, such as aggression and impulsivity); respiratory (asthma and wheezing); and allergic problems (dermatitis and rhinitis).
Early-life exposures linked to multiple health domains
"Our approach allowed us to jointly analyse associations between the early-life exposome and multiple health outcomes instead of studying each one separately," explains Augusto Anguita-Ruiz , ISGlobal and University of Barcelona researcher and first author of the study. "We used data on 69 prenatal exposures and 129 childhood exposures, together with 11 health outcomes assessed during childhood (from 6 to 11 years) and adolescence (from 12 to 18 years)."
The analysis identified six prenatal and 42 childhood exposures associated with multiple outcomes and health families simultaneously. "Although no exposure was associated with all four domains, around one in three of the selected exposures was linked to more than one, suggesting that certain exposures can have broad and multisystemic effects on health," says Valérie Siroux, Inserm researcher and senior co-author of the study.
The factors examined included diet, physical activity, sleep and other individual behaviours, as well as tobacco smoke, indoor and outdoor air pollution, chemical pollutants, metals and characteristics of the built environment. Maternal smoking during pregnancy was associated with higher BMI and more externalising behaviours in children at both early-childhood and adolescence stages, as well as with more ADHD symptoms in adolescence. Higher maternal meat intake during pregnancy was also associated with several mental health outcomes and with asthma in children, as well as with wheezing and dermatitis during childhood.
Many of the associations between environmental exposures and health parameters were observed in early childhood and were still visible years later, in adolescence. This suggests that early environmental conditions may leave relatively durable health signatures.
An atlas to explore early-life exposome–health associations
The study provides an open, interactive atlas of paediatric exposome–health associations , allowing users to explore the relationships identified across environmental factors, health outcomes and developmental stages. The resource can support the generation of new hypotheses and future research.
"These findings show that the early-life environment may be associated with different dimensions of health at the same time, and that many of these associations remain observable years later. However, the study does not establish that these exposures cause the observed health outcomes. Further studies in larger and more diverse populations will be needed to better understand these relationships and determine whether modifying some of these exposures can alter health trajectories during childhood and adolescence," says Xavier Basagaña , ISGlobal researcher and senior co-author of the study.
Reference
Anguita Ruiz, A., Amine, I., Luo, C., Guillien, A., Arteaga, M., Setó-Llorens, A., Stratakis, N., Maitre, L., Güil-Oumrait, N., Ruiz-Rivera, M., Montazeri, P., Urquiza, J., Nieuwenhuijsen, M., Thomsen, C., Småstuen Haug, L., Granum, B., Andrusaityte, S., Grazuleviciene, R., Dedele, A., Yuan, W., Heude, B., McEachan, R., Vafeiadi, M., Chatzi, L., Wright, J., Yang, T. C., Philippat, C., Gonzalez, J. R., Slama, R., Vrijheid, M., Basagaña, X., & Siroux, V. (2026). The persistent multi-domain health effects of the early-life exposome. Science Advances. doi:10.1126/sciadv.aec2089
