Association between Air Pollutants Exposure during Pregnancy and Preterm Delivery in Taiyuan / 环境与健康杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the relationship between air pollutant exposure and preterm delivery (PTD) by Logistic regression model, as the effect of air pollutant exposure to PTD made great concern today. Methods The present study consisted of 31 145 qualified birth cases, 80.09% of the total amount, from 1 Nov, 2005 to 1 Aug, 2007. The covariant items included maternal age, nation, education, residence, income, occupation, occupation exposure, parent-drinking, father-smoking, heating-type, folic acid supplement, season of pregnancy, prenatal health care, etc. The Logistic regression analysis was employed to control the confounding factors mentioned above, then the pollutant was introduced step by step to build the single, double and triple pollutant Logistic regression model to examine the association between three pollutants (SO2, NO2, and PM10) and PTD during the first and third trimesters of pregnancy. The air monitoring data (daily average of SO2, NO2, and PM10) were collected from Taiyuan Environmental Monitoring Station. Results In the first trimester, a quartile increase of NO2 exposure caused the risk for PTD increased by 22.7%. As for the effect of PM10, no significant differences were seen. In the third trimester, a quartile increase of NO2 exposure caused the risk for PTD increased by 19.1%. Conclusion The NO2 exposure during the pregnancy can increase the risk of PTD. The susceptible exposure-window choice is critical for the further study in this field.