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Associations between seasonal ambient air pollution and adverse perinatal outcomes: a retrospective cohort study in Wenzhou, China

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Abstract

Prenatal exposure to ambient air pollution has been associated with adverse perinatal outcomes in previous studies. However, few studies have examined the interaction between air pollution and the season of conception on term low birth weight (TLBW) or macrosomia. Birth registry data of singleton live births in Wenzhou, China, between January 2015 and December 2016 were accessed from the Wenzhou Maternal and Child Health Information Management platform, and data on the ambient air pollutants in Wenzhou were obtained from the Chinese Air Quality Online Monitoring and Analysis Platform. Single-/two-pollutant binary logistic regression models were used to assess the associations between ambient air pollutants (PM2.5, PM10, NO2, SO2, and O3) and TLBW/macrosomia, further exploring whether the season of conception interacts with air pollution to impact birth weight. Finally, 213,959 term newborns were selected, including 2452 (1.1%) infants with TLBW and 13,173 (6.1%) infants with macrosomia. In the single-/two-pollutant models, we observed an increased risk of TLBW associated with maternal exposure to PM2.5, PM10, SO2, and NO2 during the entire pregnancy, especially in the 2nd trimester. Maternal exposure to O3 during the 1st trimester was associated with increased macrosomia risk, and O3 exposure during the 3rd trimester was associated with increased TLBW risk. Pregnant women who conceive in the warm season may experience a more adverse ambient air environment that is related to the risks of TLBW. These findings add to the evidence suggesting that air pollution and the season of conception may have synergistic effects on adverse perinatal outcomes, especially TLBW. Further prospective cohort studies are needed to validate our results.

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Data availability

All the necessary data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article. However, the datasets for statistical analysis are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We wish to thank all the participants and staff members of the Wenzhou Maternal and Child Health Information Management platform and the Chinese Air Quality Online Monitoring and Analysis Platform for providing the data for the study.

Funding

The present study was supported by the Public Welfare Technology Research Project of Zhejiang Province (No. LGF20H260012) and the Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province (No. LQ22H260001).

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  1. Hui-Jun Huang and Qiu-Yan Yu contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, School of Public Health and Management, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, 325000, Zhejiang, China

    Hui-Jun Huang, Qiu-Yan Yu, Tian Zheng, Shan-Shan Wang & Xin-Jun Yang

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  1. Hui-Jun Huang
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  2. Qiu-Yan Yu
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  3. Tian Zheng
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  4. Shan-Shan Wang
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Contributions

Hui-jun Huang, conceptualization, methodology, data curation, formal analysis, investigation, and writing—original draft. Qiu-Yan Yu, conceptualization, methodology, and writing—review and editing. Tian Zheng, conceptualization, data curation, software, and validation. Shan-Shan Wang, investigation and formal analysis. Xin-Jun Yang, conceptualization, writing—review and editing, project administration, and funding acquisition. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xin-Jun Yang.

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The study was approved by the Medical Ethics Committee of the Second Hospital Affiliated to Wenzhou Medical University.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Responsible Editor: Lotfi Aleya

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Huang, HJ., Yu, QY., Zheng, T. et al. Associations between seasonal ambient air pollution and adverse perinatal outcomes: a retrospective cohort study in Wenzhou, China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 59903–59914 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-20084-6

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