Small-Scale Variations in Urban Air Pollution Levels Are Significantly Associated with Premature Births: A Case Study in São Paulo, Brazil

Abstract

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 São 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 O3) 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 O3 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.

Evaluating spatial patterns of seasonal ozone exposure and incidence of respiratory emergency room visits in Dallas-Fort Worth

“…The health impacts of air pollution exposure include both short-term symptoms like asthma or shortness of breath and long-term symptoms like respiratory illness and death (Brook et al, 2002;Szyszkowicz & Rowe, 2016). In addition, studies indicate air pollution as a risk factor for premature birth (Saldiva et al, 2018;Vieira, 2015). The combination of fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) and ozone has been shown to cause brachial artery vasoconstriction in a timeframe as short as 2 h (Brook et al, 2002).…”

The Use of the Internet of Things for Estimating Personal Pollution Exposure

“…Existing studies on the association of air pollution with different diseases [13,14] recognize the importance of measuring PAPE among individuals. By monitoring activity patterns, it is possible to establish correlations between different populations or levels of socioeconomic status and PAPE.…”

Associação entre exposição materna à poluição na cidade de São Paulo e desfechos da gestação

“…Não foi observada associação entre idade gestacional ao nascer, avaliada como variável contínua e poluentes. A associação positiva entre poluentes e incidência de TPP foi investigada por diversos estudos com coortes retrospectivas (19,73,122,123) e por um número menor de estudos com coorte prospectiva, como o de Gehring et al (20) , em que houve associação fraca com TPP, e o de Barnett et al (18) , em que houve associação entre poluentes e redução do tempo da gestação. Além disso, em recente meta-análise (124) (20) , o que pode explicar a divergência de resultados com o presente estudo.…”