residential exposure to air pollution during pregnancy and anthropometric measures at birth in a multi cohort in Spain

19/06/2012

Prenatal exposure to air pollution can be harmful to the developing fetus. For this reason we assessed the association between exposure to air pollution during pregnancy and anthropometric measures at birth in four cohorts INMA.

Environmental exposure to nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and benzene was estimated using regression techniques for land use (LUR: English acronym for Land Use regression) to the home of each woman (n = 2,337) for each quarter and for all pregnancy of the 4 cohorts INMA novo. We studied the association between exposure to air pollution and anthropometric measurements (weight, height and head circumference at birth) using linear regression models. Also performed sensitivity analyzes for the subgroup of women who spent more time at home during pregnancy. Finally, we performed a combined analysis of meta-analysis techniques.

Results
In the combined analysis, an increase of 10 ug/m3 NO2 exposure in pregnancy was associated with decreased birth length of -0.9 mm. For the subgroup of women who spent ≥ 15 h / day at home, the association was stronger. For this subset of women, for every increase of 10 ug/m3 NO2 exposure in the second quarter, there was a reduction of 22 grams in weight at birth. No significant relationship was found between benzene levels and anthropometric measures at birth.

With all this, the following conclusions: Exposure to NO2 was associated with a reduction of height and weight at birth. This association was clearer for the subgroup of women who spent more time at home.

68.antropometricasMarisa Estarlich  graduated in statistics. Technical research and works in the area of ??Environment and Health Research. Center for Advanced Research in Public Health (Valencia).

 

  • Link: proyectoinma.org/presentacion-inma/resultados/