Pregnancy and Maternal Health Care
An air pollution during pregnancy causes smaller babies
Author: Clay Hillary
Here are the recent findings of a French team from INSERM led by Professor Rémy Slama, CHU de Grenoble. The purpose of this study was to measure the effect of air pollutants during pregnancy on fetal growth.
For this, the research team was established in mid-pregnancy, a device for measuring benzene in 280 * Pregnant women. This device has an idea of exposure to air pollutants both outdoors and at home of patients or even know their workplace. The size of the fetus, and their head circumference was measured at the end of each trimester of pregnancy and birth.
Some factors known to decrease the size of babies at birth (passive smoking, duration of pregnancy, maternal body size) were adjusted for final analysis does not interfere with the effect of pollutants.
There is a strict correlation between the rate of exposure of pregnant women to pollutants, and the small size of babies at birth (length and head circumference).
Even the researchers were content to measure only benzenes, air pollutants are numerous, and it is not possible with these results to know which ones are involved in this observation.
It has been demonstrated almost certain that the birth weight of children affected their future health. Cleaner air for an iron? It remains to understand the mechanism causing this decrease in fetal growth.
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