Background:It has been widely demonstrated that air pollution can affect human health and that certain pollutant gases lead to adverse obstetric outcomes, such as preeclampsia and fetal growth restriction.Objectives:We evaluated the influence of individual maternal exposure to air pollution on placental volume and vascularization evaluated in the first trimester of pregnancy.Methods:This was a cross-sectional study on low-risk pregnant women living in São Paulo, Brazil. The women carried passive personal NO2 and O3 monitors in the week preceding evaluation. We employed the virtual organ computer-aided analysis (VOCAL) technique using three-dimensional power Doppler ultrasound to evaluate placental volume and placental vascular indexes [vascularization index (VI), flow index (FI), and vascularization flow index (VFI)]. We analyzed the influence of pollutant levels on log-transformed placental vascularization and volume using multiple regression models.Results:We evaluated 229 patients. Increased NO2 levels had a significant negative association with log of VI (p = 0.020 and beta = –0.153) and VFI (p = 0.024 and beta = –0.151). NO2 and O3 had no influence on the log of placental volume or FI.Conclusions:NO2, an estimator of primary air pollutants, was significantly associated with diminished VI and VFI in the first trimester of pregnancy.Citation:Hettfleisch K, Bernardes LS, Carvalho MA, Pastro LD, Vieira SE, Saldiva SR, Saldiva P, Francisco RP. 2017. Short-term exposure to urban air pollution and influences on placental vascularization indexes. Environ Health Perspect 125:753–759; http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/EHP300
OBJECTIVES:To evaluate pulmonary function in the first and third trimesters of pregnancy and analyze the influence of parity and smoking on spirometry parameters.METHODS:This longitudinal prospective study included a cohort of 120 pregnant women. The inclusion criteria were as follows: singleton pregnancy, gestational age less than 13.86 weeks, and no preexisting maternal diseases. The exclusion criteria were as follows: change of address, abortion, and inadequate spirometry testing. ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT02807038.RESULTS:A decrease in values of forced vital capacity and forced expiratory volume were noted in the first second from the first to third trimester. In the first and third trimesters, multiparous women demonstrated lower absolute forced vital capacity and forced expiratory volume values in the first second compared with nulliparous women (p<0.0001 and p=0.001, respectively). Multiparous women demonstrated reduced forced expiratory flow in 25% to 75% of the maneuver compared with nulliparous women in the first (p=0.005) and third (p=0.031) trimesters. The absolute values of forced expiratory flow in 25% to 75%, forced expiratory volume in the first second and predicted peak expiratory flow values in the third trimester were higher in smokers compared with nonsmokers (p=0.042, p=0.039, p=0.024, and p=0.021, respectively).CONCLUSION:There was a significant reduction in forced vital capacity and forced expiratory volume values in the first second during pregnancy. Parity and smoking significantly influence spirometric variables.
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