Perinatal health in the Danube region – new birth cohort justified

Abstract

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>In 2013–2015, a consortium of European scientists – NEWDANUBE – was established to prepare a birth cohort in the Danube region, including most of the countries with the highest air pollution in Europe, the area being one-fifth of the European Union’s (EU’s) territory, including 14 countries (nine EU member states), over 100 million inhabitants, with numerous challenges: big socioeconomic disparities, and a region-specific environmental pollution. The consortium reflects the EU Strategy for the Danube Region Strategy (2010), which identified 11 thematic Priority Areas – one of which is the environmental risks. Birth cohorts have been established in all other areas of Europe and collaborative efforts in promoting maternal and fetal health by minimizing the environmental exposures have been initiated with national, European, and international financial support. A birth cohort in the Danube area could apply the established methodologies for prenatal exposure and birth outcome measurements and establish a platform for targeted health promotion in couples planning pregnancies. The consortium included a strong socioeconomic part focusing on the participant’s active registration of exposures to environmental toxicants and health indicators of disease and wellbeing, combined with investigation of their risk-reducing behavior and interventions to change their lifestyle to avoid the adverse health risks. Willingness to pay for reducing the health risks in children is also proposed to be estimated. Further collaboration and networking is encouraged as the Danube region has several decades of experience and expertise in biomonitoring adult populations exposed environmentally or occupationally. Additionally, some countries in the Danube region launched small-scale birth cohorts encouraged by participation in several ongoing research projects.</jats:p>

Associating Air Pollution with Cytokinesis-Block Micronucleus Assay Parameters in Lymphocytes of the General Population in Zagreb (Croatia)

“…Particle-size fractions PM 10 (suspended PM with an aerodynamic diameter < 10 μm) and especially the smaller ones (PM 2.5 and PM 1 , with aerodynamic diameters less than 2.5 and 1 μm, respectively) pose a significant health problem because they can penetrate the lungs and even the bloodstream [ 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 ]. For an estimation of population-weighted exposure to ambient particulate air pollution, the average levels of PM 2.5 particle fraction concentrations are most commonly used, as this fraction is capable of penetrating deep into the lungs and causing severe, negative health effects [ 27 , 28 , 29 ]. However, the choice of fraction often depends on the availability of air pollution data.…”