Impact of air pollution exposure during various periods of pregnancy on term birth weight: a large-sample, retrospective population-based cohort study

• Published in: Environmental science and pollution research international Vol. 28; no. 3; pp. 3296 - 3306
• Main Authors: Shang, Li, Huang, Liyan, Yang, Liren, Leng, Longtao, Qi, Cuifang, Xie, Guilan, Wang, Ruiqi, Guo, Leqian, Yang, Wenfang, Chung, Mei Chun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.01.2021; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Air monitoring; Air Pollutants - adverse effects; Air Pollutants - analysis; Air pollution; Air Pollution - adverse effects; Air Pollution - analysis; Air pollution effects; Air quality; Aquatic Pollution; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Birth Weight; Carbon monoxide; China; Cohort analysis; Cohort Studies; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecotoxicology; Environment; Environmental Chemistry; Environmental Health; Environmental monitoring; Environmental science; Exposure; Female; Humans; Infant; Infant, Newborn; Infants; Low birth weight; Maternal Exposure - adverse effects; Neonates; Nitrogen dioxide; Outdoor air quality; Particulate matter; Particulate Matter - adverse effects; Pollutants; Pollution levels; Population studies; Population-based studies; Pregnancy; Prenatal experience; Prenatal exposure; Regression analysis; Regression models; Research Article; Retrospective Studies; Risk; Sulfur dioxide; Waste Water Technology; Water Management; Water Pollution Control; Weight; China; Term low birth weight; Air pollution; Term birth weight; Air quality index; Maternal exposure; Macrosomia
• ISSN: 0944-1344; 1614-7499
• DOI: 10.1007/s11356-020-10705-3

Previous studies have suggested that maternal exposure to air pollution might affect term birth weight. However, the conclusions are controversial. Birth data of all term newborns born in Xi’an city of Shaanxi, China, from 2015 to 2018 and whose mother lived in Xi’an during pregnancy were selected form the Birth Registry Database. And the daily air quality data of Xi’an city was collected from Chinese Air Quality Online Monitoring and Analysis Platform. Generalized additive models (GAM) and 2-level binary logistic regression models were used to estimate the effects of air pollution exposure on term birth weight, the risk term low birth weight (TLBW), and macrosomia. Finally, 321521 term newborns were selected, including 4369(1.36%) TLBW infants and 24,960 (7.76%) macrosomia. The average pollution levels of PM 2.5 , PM 10 , and NO 2 in Xi’an city from 2015 to 2018 were higher than national limits. During the whole pregnancy, maternal exposure to PM 2.5 , PM 10 , SO 2 , and CO all significantly reduced the term birth weight and increased the risk of TLBW. However, NO 2 and O 3 exposure have significantly increased the term birth weight, and O 3 even increased the risk of macrosomia significantly. Those effects were also observed in the first and second trimesters of pregnancy. But during the third trimester, high level of air quality index (AQI) and maternal exposure to PM 2.5 , PM 10 , SO 2 , NO 2 , and CO increased the term birth weight and the risk of macrosomia, while O 3 exposure was contrary to this effect. The findings suggested that prenatal exposure to air pollution might cause adverse impacts on term birth weight, and the effects varied with trimesters and pollutants, which provides further pieces of evidence for the adverse effects of air pollution exposure in heavy polluted-area on term birth weight.