Exposure to Traffic Density during Pregnancy and Birth Weight in a National Cohort, 2000–2017

Abstract

The variation on birth weight is associated with several outcomes early on in life and low birth weight (LBW) increases the risk of morbidity and mortality. Some environmental exposures during pregnancy, such as particulate matters and other traffic-related pollutants can have a significant effect on pregnant women and fetuses. The aim of this study is to estimate the effect of exposure to traffic density during pregnancy over birth weight in Spain, from 2000–2017. This was a retrospective, cross-sectional study using the information from Spain Birth Registry Statistics database. The traffic density was measured using the Annual average daily traffic. Multivariate linear regression models using birth weight and traffic density were performed, as well as a logistic regression model to estimated Odds ratios for LBW and GAM models to evaluate the non-linear effect. Our findings showed that increases in traffic density were associated with reduction of birth weight and increases of LBW risk. Moreover, exposure to high and very-high traffic-density during pregnancy were associated with reduction of birth weight and increase on LBW risk comparing with exposure to low number of cars trespassing the neighborhoods. The results of this study agree with previous literature and highlights the need of effective policies for reducing traffic density in residential neighborhoods of cities and towns.

Exposure to residential traffic and trajectories of unhealthy ageing: results from a nationally-representative cohort of older adults

“…The Annual Average Daily Traffic (AADT) is a tool used to predict how active a road is and it has shown to be a useful instrument when assessing the health effects of traffic density exposure [ 30 , 31 ]. It is computed as the total volume of vehicle traffic on a highway, road or street for a year divided by 365 days, and is expressed in vehicles per day.…”

“…It is computed as the total volume of vehicle traffic on a highway, road or street for a year divided by 365 days, and is expressed in vehicles per day. AADT was measured via the Navteq cartography combined with the traffic density information provided by the Spanish Ministry of Public Works and Transport [ 30 ]. We first created buffers at 50 and 100 meters around the participantsʼ residential address home, and then, calculated residential traffic density (RTD) as the total volume of AADT within the buffers; weights were applied proportionally to the length of the road segment overlapping with the buffer.…”

Estilos de vida, sostenibilidad y salud planetaria

“…La exposición a una densidad de tráfico alta y muy alta durante el embarazo también se asoció con un aumento del riesgo de bajo peso al nacer 64 .…”