Dataset Information

Air pollutant exposure and preterm and term small-for-gestational-age births in Detroit, Michigan: long-term trends and associations.

ABSTRACT: Studies in a number of countries have reported associations between exposure to ambient air pollutants and adverse birth outcomes, including low birth weight, preterm birth (PTB) and, less commonly, small for gestational age (SGA). Despite their growing number, the available studies have significant limitations, e.g., incomplete control of temporal trends in exposure, modest sample sizes, and a lack of information regarding individual risk factors such as smoking. No study has yet examined large numbers of susceptible individuals. We investigated the association between ambient air pollutant concentrations and term SGA and PTB outcomes among 164,905 singleton births in Detroit, Michigan occurring between 1990 and 2001. SO(2), CO, NO(2), O(3) and PM(10) exposures were used in single and multiple pollutant logistic regression models to estimate odds ratios (OR) for these outcomes, adjusted for the infant's sex and gestational age, the mother's race, age group, education level, smoking status and prenatal care, birth season, site of residence, and long-term exposure trends. Term SGA was associated with CO levels exceeding 0.75ppm (OR=1.14, 95% confidence interval=1.02-1.27) and NO(2) exceeding 6.8ppb (1.11, 1.03-1.21) exposures in the first month, and with PM(10) exceeding 35?g/m(3) (1.22, 1.03-1.46) and O(3) (1.11, 1.02-1.20) exposure in the third trimester. PTB was associated with SO(2) (1.07, 1.01-1.14) exposure in the last month, and with (hourly) O(3) exceeding 92ppb (1.08, 1.02-1.14) exposure in the first month. Exposure to several air pollutants at modest concentrations was associated with adverse birth outcomes. This study, which included a large Black population, suggests the importance of the early period of pregnancy for associations between term SGA with CO and NO(2), and between O(3) with PTB; and the late pregnancy period for associations between term SGA and O(3) and PM(10), and between SO(2) with PTB. It also highlights the importance of accounting for individual risk factors such as maternal smoking, maternal race, and long-term trends in air pollutant levels and adverse birth outcomes in evaluating relationships between pollutant exposures and adverse birth outcomes.

SUBMITTER: Le HQ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4331339 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Air pollutant exposure and preterm and term small-for-gestational-age births in Detroit, Michigan: long-term trends and associations.

Le Hien Q HQ Batterman Stuart A SA Wirth Julia J JJ Wahl Robert L RL Hoggatt Katherine J KJ Sadeghnejad Alireza A Hultin Mary Lee ML Depa Michael M

Environment international 20120206

Studies in a number of countries have reported associations between exposure to ambient air pollutants and adverse birth outcomes, including low birth weight, preterm birth (PTB) and, less commonly, small for gestational age (SGA). Despite their growing number, the available studies have significant limitations, e.g., incomplete control of temporal trends in exposure, modest sample sizes, and a lack of information regarding individual risk factors such as smoking. No study has yet examined large ...[more]

PMID: 22314199

Similar Datasets

Project description:The environmental burden of disease is the mortality and morbidity attributable to exposures of air pollution and other stressors. The inequality metrics used in cumulative impact and environmental justice studies can be incorporated into environmental burden studies to better understand the health disparities of ambient air pollutant exposures. This study examines the diseases and health disparities attributable to air pollutants for the Detroit urban area. We apportion this burden to various groups of emission sources and pollutants, and show how the burden is distributed among demographic and socioeconomic subgroups. The analysis uses spatially-resolved estimates of exposures, baseline health rates, age-stratified populations, and demographic characteristics that serve as proxies for increased vulnerability, e.g., race/ethnicity and income. Based on current levels, exposures to fine particulate matter (PM2.5), ozone (O₃), sulfur dioxide (SO₂), and nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) are responsible for more than 10,000 disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) per year, causing an annual monetized health impact of $6.5 billion. This burden is mainly driven by PM2.5 and O₃ exposures, which cause 660 premature deaths each year among the 945,000 individuals in the study area. NO₂ exposures, largely from traffic, are important for respiratory outcomes among older adults and children with asthma, e.g., 46% of air-pollution related asthma hospitalizations are due to NO₂ exposures. Based on quantitative inequality metrics, the greatest inequality of health burdens results from industrial and traffic emissions. These metrics also show disproportionate burdens among Hispanic/Latino populations due to industrial emissions, and among low income populations due to traffic emissions. Attributable health burdens are a function of exposures, susceptibility and vulnerability (e.g., baseline incidence rates), and population density. Because of these dependencies, inequality metrics should be calculated using the attributable health burden when feasible to avoid potentially underestimating inequality. Quantitative health impact and inequality analyses can inform health and environmental justice evaluations, providing important information to decision makers for prioritizing strategies to address exposures at the local level.

Project description:Vehicles are major sources of air pollutant emissions, and individuals living near large roads endure high exposures and health risks associated with traffic-related air pollutants. Air pollution epidemiology, health risk, environmental justice, and transportation planning studies would all benefit from an improved understanding of the key information and metrics needed to assess exposures, as well as the strengths and limitations of alternate exposure metrics. This study develops and evaluates several metrics for characterizing exposure to traffic-related air pollutants for the 218 residential locations of participants in the NEXUS epidemiology study conducted in Detroit (MI, USA). Exposure metrics included proximity to major roads, traffic volume, vehicle mix, traffic density, vehicle exhaust emissions density, and pollutant concentrations predicted by dispersion models. Results presented for each metric include comparisons of exposure distributions, spatial variability, intraclass correlation, concordance and discordance rates, and overall strengths and limitations. While showing some agreement, the simple categorical and proximity classifications (e.g., high diesel/low diesel traffic roads and distance from major roads) do not reflect the range and overlap of exposures seen in the other metrics. Information provided by the traffic density metric, defined as the number of kilometers traveled (VKT) per day within a 300 m buffer around each home, was reasonably consistent with the more sophisticated metrics. Dispersion modeling provided spatially- and temporally-resolved concentrations, along with apportionments that separated concentrations due to traffic emissions and other sources. While several of the exposure metrics showed broad agreement, including traffic density, emissions density and modeled concentrations, these alternatives still produced exposure classifications that differed for a substantial fraction of study participants, e.g., from 20% to 50% of homes, depending on the metric, would be incorrectly classified into "low", "medium" or "high" traffic exposure classes. These and other results suggest the potential for exposure misclassification and the need for refined and validated exposure metrics. While data and computational demands for dispersion modeling of traffic emissions are non-trivial concerns, once established, dispersion modeling systems can provide exposure information for both on- and near-road environments that would benefit future traffic-related assessments.

Project description:OBJECTIVE:To produce current data on survival of preterm infants. DESIGN:Retrospective population based study. SETTING:Trent health region. SUBJECTS:All European and Asian live births, stillbirths, and late fetal losses from 22 to 32 weeks' gestation, excluding those with major congenital malformations, in women resident in the Trent health region between 1 January 1994 and 31 December 1997. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:Birth weight and gestational age specific survival for both European and Asian infants (a) known to be alive at the onset of labour, and (b) admitted for neonatal care. RESULTS:738 deaths occurred in 3760 infants born between 22 and 32 weeks' gestation during the study period, giving an overall survival rate of 80.4%. The survival rate for the 3489 (92.8%) infants admitted for neonatal care was 86.6%. For European infants known to be alive at the onset of labour, significant variations in gestation specific survival by birth weight emerged from 24 weeks' gestation: survival ranged from 9% (95% confidence interval 7% to 13%) for infants of birth weight 250-499 g to 21% (16% to 28%) for those of 1000-1249 g. At 27 weeks' gestation, survival ranged from 55% (49% to 61%) for infants of birth weight 500-749 g (below the 10th centile) to 80% (76% to 85%) for those of 1250-1499 g. Infants who were large for dates (>/=27 weeks' gestation) had a slightly reduced, but not significant, predicted survival. Similar survival rates were observed for Asian infants. The odds ratio for the survival of infants from a multiple birth compared with singleton infants was 1.4 (1.1 to 1.8). Survival graphs for infants admitted for neonatal care are presented by sex. CONCLUSION:Easy to use birth weight and gestational age specific predicted survival graphs for preterm infants facilitate decision making for clinicians and parents. It is important that these graphs are representative, are produced for a geographically defined population, and are not biased towards the outcomes of particular centres. Such graphs, produced in two stages, allow for the changing pattern of survival of infants from the start of the intrapartum period to immediately after admission for neonatal care.

Dataset Information

Air pollutant exposure and preterm and term small-for-gestational-age births in Detroit, Michigan: long-term trends and associations.

Publications

Air pollutant exposure and preterm and term small-for-gestational-age births in Detroit, Michigan: long-term trends and associations.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets