Prenatal household air pollutant exposure is associated with reduced size and gestational age at birth among a cohort of Ghanaian infants
Year: 2021
Type: article
Abstract: BACKGROUND: Low birth weight and prematurity are important risk factors for death and disability, and may be affected by prenatal exposure to household air pollution (HAP). METHODS: We investigate associations between maternal exposure to carbon monoxide (CO) during pregnancy and birth outcomes (birth weight, birth length, head circumference, gestational age, low birth weight, small for gestational age, and preterm birth) among 1288 live-born infants in the Ghana Randomized Air Pollution and Health Study (GRAPHS). We evaluate whether evidence of malaria during pregnancy, as determined by placental histopathology, modifies these associations. RESULTS: We observed effects of CO on birth weight, birth length, and gestational age that were modified by placental malarial status. Among infants from pregnancies without evidence of placental malaria, each 1 ppm increase in CO was associated with reduced birth weight (-53.4 g [95% CI: -84.8, -21.9 g]), birth length (-0.3 cm [-0.6, -0.1 cm]), gestational age (-1.0 days [-1.8, -0.2 days]), and weight-for-age Z score (-0.08 standard deviations [-0.16, -0.01 standard deviations]). These associations were not observed in pregnancies with evidence of placental malaria. Each 1 ppm increase in maternal exposure to CO was associated with elevated odds of low birth weight (LBW, OR 1.14 [0.97, 1.33]) and small for gestational age (SGA, OR 1.14 [0.98, 1.32]) among all infants. CONCLUSIONS: Even modest reductions in exposure to HAP among pregnant women could yield substantial public health benefits, underscoring a need for interventions to effectively reduce exposure. Adverse associations with HAP were discernible only among those without evidence of placental malaria, a key driver of impaired fetal growth in this malaria-endemic area.
Source: Environment International
Authors: Ashlinn K. Quinn, Irene Apewe Adjei, Kenneth Ayuurebobi Ae-Ngibise, Oscar Agyei, Ellen Abrafi Boamah-Kaali, Katrin Burkart, Daniel Carrión, Steven N. Chillrud, Carlos F. Gould, Stephaney Gyaase, Darby W. Jack, Seyram Kaali, Patrick L. Kinney, Alison G. Lee, Mohammed Nuhu Mujtaba, Felix Boakye Oppong, Seth Owusu-Agyei, Abena Yawson, Blair J. Wylie, Kwaku Poku Asante
Institutions: National Institutes of Health, Fogarty International Center, Kintampo Health Research Centre, University of Washington, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, Boston University, University of Health and Allied Sciences, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Language: English
Subfield: Pollution
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,500
Funders: Thrasher Research Fund, Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, Clean Cooking Alliance, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
Awards: Household air pollution in Tanzania, placental health and pregnancy outcome, Prenatal PM2.5 and programming of respiratory outcomes: Placental biomarkers and effect modification by stress, Estimating the health benefits of national clean cooking fuel scale-up: A case study in Ecuador using national health data, G6629882629, G6700821023, Maternal organophosphate pesticide exposure, low birth weight and placental injury, Interdisciplinary Training in Climate and Health, Intervening to Improve Birth Weight and Infant Respiratory Health in Rural Ghana, Research Training Program in Pediatric Exposomics, Advanced training in environmental health and data science: molecules to populations, Center for Environmental Health in Northern Manhattan, Maternal trauma, circulating microRNA in extracellular vesicles, and programming of childhood respiratory outcomes
OpenAlex ID: W3168369821