Coal is the most aggressive energy sources in the environment. Several adverse outcomes on children’s health exposure to coal pollutants have been reported. Pollutants from coal power plants adversely affect the intellectual development and capacity. The present study aimed to evaluate the intellectual development and associated factors among children living a city under the direct influence (DI) and six neighboring municipalities under the indirect influence (II) of coal mining activity in the largest coal reserve of Brazil. A structured questionnaire was completed by the child’s guardian, and Raven's Progressive Color Matrices were administered to each child to assess intellectual development. A total of 778 children participated. In general, no significant difference was observed between the two cities. The DI city had better socioeconomic conditions than the II municipalities according to family income (< 0.001). The prevalence of children who were intellectually below average or with intellectual disabilities was 22.9%, and there was no significant difference (p > 0.05) between municipalities. In both unadjusted and adjusted analyses, intellectual development was associated with maternal age, marital situation and maternal education level, birth weight, breast feeding, frequent children's daycare, paternal participation in children’s care and child growth. Living in the DI area was not associated with intellectual disability. The results suggest that socioeconomic conditions and maternal and neonatal outcomes are more important than environmental factors for intellectual development of children living in a coal mining area.

煤炭是环境中最具侵略性的能源。已经报道了几种对儿童健康暴露于煤污染物的不利结果。来自燃煤电厂的污染物对智力开发和能力产生不利影响。本研究旨在评估生活在巴西最大煤炭储量的煤炭开采活动直接影响 (DI) 和间接影响 (II) 下的六个邻近城市的儿童的智力发展和相关因素。孩子的监护人完成了结构化问卷，并对每个孩子进行了 Raven 渐进式颜色矩阵以评估智力发育。共有778名儿童参加。总的来说，两个城市之间没有观察到显着差异。从家庭收入来看，DI 市的社会经济条件优于 II 市（< 0.001）。智力低下或智障儿童患病率为22.9%，无显着差异（p  > 0.05) 城市之间。在未调整和调整的分析中，智力发育与母亲年龄、婚姻状况和母亲教育水平、出生体重、母乳喂养、频繁的儿童日托、父亲参与儿童护理和儿童成长有关。生活在 DI 地区与智力障碍无关。结果表明，对于生活在煤矿区的儿童的智力发展，社会经济条件和孕产妇和新生儿的结果比环境因素更重要。