Ambient air pollution exposure and full-term birth weight in California

Environmental Health

Research

Bill M Jesdale¹  Rachel Morello-Frosch²  James L Sadd³  Manuel Pastor⁴ 

[1] Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, University of California, Berkeley, 137 Mulford Hall, 094720-3114, Berkeley, CA, USA;Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, University of California, Berkeley, 137 Mulford Hall, 094720-3114, Berkeley, CA, USA;School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, 137 Mulford Hall, 94720-3114, Berkeley, CA, USA;Department of Environmental Sciences, Occidental College, 1600 Campus Road, 90041, Los Angeles, CA, USA;Program on Environmental and Regional Equity, University of Southern California, 3620 S. Vermont Ave, KAP-462, 90089-0255, Los Angeles, CA, USA;Department of American Studies and Ethnicity, University of Southern California, 3620 S. Vermont Ave, KAP-462, 90089-0255, Los Angeles, CA, USA;

关键词: Birth Weight;    Census Tract;    Average Birth Weight;    Lower Infant Birth Weight;    Pregnancy Risk Factor;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1476-069X-9-44

 received in 2009-10-23, accepted in 2010-07-28,  发布年份 2010

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundStudies have identified relationships between air pollution and birth weight, but have been inconsistent in identifying individual pollutants inversely associated with birth weight or elucidating susceptibility of the fetus by trimester of exposure. We examined effects of prenatal ambient pollution exposure on average birth weight and risk of low birth weight in full-term births.MethodsWe estimated average ambient air pollutant concentrations throughout pregnancy in the neighborhoods of women who delivered term singleton live births between 1996 and 2006 in California. We adjusted effect estimates of air pollutants on birth weight for infant characteristics, maternal characteristics, neighborhood socioeconomic factors, and year and season of birth.Results3,545,177 singleton births had monitoring for at least one air pollutant within a 10 km radius of the tract or ZIP Code of the mother's residence. In multivariate models, pollutants were associated with decreased birth weight; -5.4 grams (95% confidence interval -6.8 g, -4.1 g) per ppm carbon monoxide, -9.0 g (-9.6 g, -8.4 g) per pphm nitrogen dioxide, -5.7 g (-6.6 g, -4.9 g) per pphm ozone, -7.7 g (-7.9 g, -6.6 g) per 10 μ g/m3 particulate matter under 10 μm, -12.8 g (-14.3 g, -11.3 g) per 10 μ g/m3 particulate matter under 2.5 μm, and -9.3 g (-10.7 g, -7.9 g) per 10 μ g/m3 of coarse particulate matter. With the exception of carbon monoxide, estimates were largely unchanged after controlling for co-pollutants. Effect estimates for the third trimester largely reflect the results seen from full pregnancy exposure estimates; greater variation in results is seen in effect estimates specific to the first and second trimesters.ConclusionsThis study indicates that maternal exposure to ambient air pollution results in modestly lower infant birth weight. A small decline in birth weight is unlikely to have clinical relevance for individual infants, and there is debate about whether a small shift in the population distribution of birth weight has broader health implications. However, the ubiquity of air pollution exposures, the responsiveness of pollutant levels to regulation, and the fact that the highest pollution levels in California are lower than those regularly experienced in other countries suggest that precautionary efforts to reduce pollutants may be beneficial for infant health from a population perspective.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Morello-Frosch et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2010