Prenatal air pollution exposure and newborn blood pressure

• Published in: Environmental health perspectives Vol. 123; no. 4; p. 353
• Main Authors: van Rossem, Lenie, Rifas-Shiman, Sheryl L, Melly, Steven J, Kloog, Itai, Luttmann-Gibson, Heike, Zanobetti, Antonella, Coull, Brent A, Schwartz, Joel D, Mittleman, Murray A, Oken, Emily, Gillman, Matthew W, Koutrakis, Petros, Gold, Diane R
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences 01.04.2015; NLM-Export
• Subjects: Adults; Age; Air Pollutants - analysis; Air Pollutants - toxicity; Air pollution; Air Pollution - adverse effects; Air Pollution - analysis; Babies; Birth; Birth weight; Black carbon; Blood Pressure; Boston; Carbon monoxide; Carbon Monoxide - analysis; Carbon Monoxide - toxicity; Children's Health; Cohort Studies; Emission measurements; Environmental Monitoring; Estimates; Exposure; Female; Gestational age; Health; Hospitals; Humans; Hypertension; Infant, Newborn; Male; Maternal & child health; Maternal Exposure - adverse effects; Medical records; Menstruation; Mothers; Newborn babies; Nitrogen dioxide; Nitrogen oxides; Nitrogen Oxides - analysis; Nitrogen Oxides - toxicity; Ozone - analysis; Particle Size; Particulate matter; Particulate Matter - analysis; Particulate Matter - toxicity; Photochemicals; Pollutants; Pregnancy; Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects - physiopathology; Soot - analysis; Soot - toxicity; Studies; Boston; USA, Massachusetts, Boston
• ISSN: 0091-6765; 1552-9924
• DOI: 10.1289/ehp.1307419

Air pollution exposure has been associated with increased blood pressure in adults. We examined associations of antenatal exposure to ambient air pollution with newborn systolic blood pressure (SBP). We studied 1,131 mother-infant pairs in a Boston, Massachusetts, area pre-birth cohort. We calculated average exposures by trimester and during the 2 to 90 days before birth for temporally resolved fine particulate matter (≤ 2.5 μm; PM2.5), black carbon (BC), nitrogen oxides, nitrogen dioxide, ozone (O3), and carbon monoxide measured at stationary monitoring sites, and for spatiotemporally resolved estimates of PM2.5 and BC at the residence level. We measured SBP at a mean age of 30 ± 18 hr with an automated device. We used mixed-effects models to examine associations between air pollutant exposures and SBP, taking into account measurement circumstances; child's birth weight; mother's age, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic position, and third-trimester BP; and time trend. Estimates represent differences in SBP associated with an interquartile range (IQR) increase in each pollutant. Higher mean PM2.5 and BC exposures during the third trimester were associated with higher SBP (e.g., 1.0 mmHg; 95% CI: 0.1, 1.8 for a 0.32-μg/m3 increase in mean 90-day residential BC). In contrast, O3 was negatively associated with SBP (e.g., -2.3 mmHg; 95% CI: -4.4, -0.2 for a 13.5-ppb increase during the 90 days before birth). Exposures to PM2.5 and BC in late pregnancy were positively associated with newborn SBP, whereas O3 was negatively associated with SBP. Longitudinal follow-up will enable us to assess the implications of these findings for health during later childhood and adulthood.