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Impact of Maternal Demographic and Socioeconomic Factors on the Association Between Particulate Matter and Adverse Birth Outcomes: a Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities volume 8, pages 743–755 (2021)Cite this article

Abstract

Background

Numerous studies conducted in the United States found associations between prenatal exposure to particulate matter (PM) and adverse birth outcomes, and some studies identified vulnerable populations, including certain racial/ethnic groups and people with low-socioeconomic status. However, their findings are not always consistent. In this review, we compared the risk of adverse birth outcomes due to PM exposures among subpopulations and investigated whether any particular population is more vulnerable.

Methods

We selected U.S. studies examining associations between PM exposure during pregnancy and birth outcomes that included results for effect modification by race/ethnicity and/or maternal education. We summarized the findings for various sizes of PM and birth outcomes. Meta-analysis was conducted to quantify vulnerable race/ethnicity for the association between fine PM (PM2.5) and birthweight.

Results

In total, 19 studies were assessed, and PM-related risks of adverse birth outcomes, particularly those related to fetal growth, likely differ across subpopulations. A meta-analysis from five studies showed that a 10 μg/m3 increase of PM2.5 during the full-gestation reduced birthweight by 21.9 g (95% confidence interval 11.7, 32.0), 15.7 g (10.1, 21.4), 9.3 g (2.7, 15.8), and 5.8 g (− 9.0, 20.7) for Black, White, Hispanic, and Asian mothers, respectively.

Conclusion

Our review indicated that Black mothers and mothers with low educational attainment are more vulnerable subpopulations. More investigation is needed for effect modification by other maternal factors, such as household income. Characterizing and quantifying vulnerable subpopulations are essential for addressing environmental justice since it can help regulatory agencies allocate resources and design policy interventions.

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Abbreviations

BW:

Birthweight

CI:

Confidence interval

LBW:

Low birthweight

PM:

Particulate matter

PM2.5 :

Particulate matter of less than 2.5 μm in diameter

PM10 :

Particulate matter of less than 10 μm in diameter

PMc :

Particulate matter with a diameter between 2.5 and 10 μm

PTB:

Preterm birth

SES:

Socioeconomic status

SGA:

Small for gestational age

TLBW:

Term low birthweight

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Acknowledgments

We thank Dr. Michael Bates, Dr. John Balmes, Dr. Carrisa Harris, Dr. Juleen Lam, and Liza Lutzker for their insightful suggestions on review strategy; Charleen Kubota and Debbie Jan for their guidance on literature search; and Dr. Allegra Kim and Dharshani Pearson for their helpful comments on the manuscript.

Availability of Data and Material

All numerical results were obtained from reviewed articles.

Code Availability

R code for meta-analysis is available upon request.

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Author notes

  1. Neil Thayamballi and Sara Habiba contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, California Environmental Protection Agency, 1515 Clay Street, 16th floor, Oakland, CA, 94612, USA

    Neil Thayamballi, Sara Habiba, Ouahiba Laribi & Keita Ebisu

  2. School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, 2121 Berkeley Way, Room 5302, Berkeley, CA, 94720-7360, USA

    Neil Thayamballi & Sara Habiba

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  1. Neil Thayamballi
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Correspondence to Keita Ebisu.

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Thayamballi, N., Habiba, S., Laribi, O. et al. Impact of Maternal Demographic and Socioeconomic Factors on the Association Between Particulate Matter and Adverse Birth Outcomes: a Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. J. Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities 8, 743–755 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-020-00835-2

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Keywords

  • Particulate matter
  • Vulnerable population
  • Environmental justice
  • Birth outcome