Journal
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH
Volume 15, Issue 10, Pages -Publisher
MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/ijerph15102236
Keywords
premature birth; air pollution; air monitoring; spatial analysis
Funding
- Brazilian National Council of Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) (MCTI/CNPq/MS/SCME/Decit/Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation) [401616/2013-4]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Premature birth is the result of a complex interaction among genetic, epigenetic, behavioral, socioeconomic, and environmental factors. We evaluated the possible associations between air pollution and the incidence of prematurity in spatial clusters of high and low prevalence in the municipality of SAo Paulo. It is a spatial case-control study. The residential addresses of mothers with live births that occurred in 2012 and 2013 were geo-coded. A spatial scan statistical test performed to identify possible low-prevalence and high-prevalence clusters of premature births. After identifying, the spatial clusters were drawn samples of cases and controls in each cluster. Mothers were interviewed face-to-face using questionnaires. Air pollution exposure was assessed by passive tubes (NO2 and O-3) as well as by the determination of trace elements' concentration in tree bark. Binary logistic regression models were applied to determine the significance of the risk of premature birth. Later prenatal care, urinary infection, and hypertension were individual risk factors for prematurity. Particles produced by traffic emissions (estimated by tree bark accumulation) and photochemical pollutants involved in the photochemical cycle (estimated by O-3 and NO2 passive tubes) also exhibited significant and robust risks for premature births. The results indicate that air pollution is an independent risk factor for prematurity.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available