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 Researchers examined data on birth defects for almost 290,000
infants born in Ohio from 2006 to 2010, matching these records with
air pollution measurements near mothers’ homes.
They focused on what’s known as fine particulate matter, or PM 2.5,
a mixture of solid particles and liquid droplets smaller than 2.5
micrometers in diameter that’s found in traffic exhaust and can
include dust, dirt, soot, and smoke.
Higher levels of PM 2.5 exposure in the month before and after
pregnancy were associated with a small but statistically meaningful
increased risk of congenital birth defects, the study found.
“Our study indicates that there are several particularly vulnerable
exposure periods near the time of conception, both before and after
conception, in which exposure to higher levels of particulate matter
in the air may pose an increased chance for a birth defect to
occur,” said senior study author Dr. Emily DeFranco of the
University of Cincinnati College of Medicine in Ohio.
The impact of particulate matter on birth defects varied based on
how far women lived from air quality monitoring stations.
Overall, when researchers looked at every mother in the study, women
were exposed to average PM 2.5 levels of 13.79 micrograms per cubic
meter of air (ug/m3) during the months just before and after they
conceived. This included women who lived within 10 kilometers (6.2
miles) of an air quality monitoring station.
When researchers looked at a subset of women who lived within 5
kilometers of a monitoring station, they found that for every 10 ug/m3
increase in PM 2.5 levels women experienced during the month after
conception, their babies were 19 percent more to be born with birth
defects.
Certain types of birth defects appeared more strongly connected to
air pollution, including abdominal malformations and what’s known as
hypospadias, an abnormality in boys that occurs when the opening of
the urethra doesn’t develop on the tip of the penis and instead
forms on the shaft or on the scrotum.
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At the time of the study, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
standard for particulate matter levels was 15 ug/m3, while the
current standard is 12 ug/m3, researchers note in the Journal of
Pediatrics.
“Our study results support the importance of public health education
and initiatives to minimize population exposure to airborne
pollutants,” DeFranco said.
The study wasn’t a controlled experiment designed to prove whether
or how mothers’ exposure to air pollution might influence the odds
of birth defects in their babies. The study also only examined air
pollution near women’s homes, and not necessarily near where they
worked or spent the most time outdoors.
Even so, it makes sense for women to limit their exposure to air
pollution whenever possible whether by avoiding outdoor commutes
during rush hour or concentrating on indoor air quality, said Dr.
Shruthi Mahalingaiah, an environmental health researcher at Boston
University who wasn’t involved in the study.
“If you live in areas of the world with high levels of ambient air
pollution, you may consider installing appropriate air or
ventilation systems so that your in-home air quality is excellent,”
Mahalingaiah advised. “Ideally, working together with policy makers,
companies, and nations to reduce emissions and innovate around
sequestering current levels of emissions would be a goal.”
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2E47lqR Journal of Pediatrics, online December
10, 2017.
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