A huge new global study revealed that air pollution played a part in nearly six million premature births and close to three million underweight babies in just 2019.
Major Causes of Premature Birth
Mounting evidence shows that the exposure of pregnant women to PM2.5, which are minute airborne particles of pollutants such as soot and ash, has a strong link to a greater risk of them giving birth to their babies too small or untimely.
It's also well recognized that the major cause of death among children below 5 years of age all over the world is premature birth complications and it is known to significantly boost the risk of a lot of diseases.
The risk is particularly more in low-income settings, where about half of the babies delivered at or prior to 32 weeks which is 2 months early don't survive.
It was reported in the journal PLOS Medicine that a team of scientists at the University of Washington and UC San Francisco made effort in getting a world wide snapshot of ways air pollution affected childbirth and the death of children in 2019.
With the use of great amounts of existing data, they conducted a meta-analysis of a number of primary indicators of pregnancy across the globe, including a reduction in birth weight, gestational age at birth, low birth weight, and premature birth.
Also Read: Air Pollution Causes 7 Million Deaths Yearly, Prompting WHO to Strengthen Guidelines
Indoor Vs. Outdoor Air Pollution
Major impact was noticed in developing countries. The discoveries propose the worldwide incidence of premature birth and low birthweight could decrease by nearly 78 percent if air pollution in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia were reduced.
Also, developed parts of the world are affected. The researchers roughly calculated there were close to 12,000 premature births in the US in 2019 that can be connected to outdoor air pollution.
About two-thirds of the harmful effects on birth were connected to indoor air pollution and most of them were from burning coal, dung and wood in the houses of developing countries.
The other third had something to do with ambient outdoor pollution prompted by combustion processes from cars, burning of fossil fuel, and industry.
Effect of Air Pollution
The researchers involved in this new report are also behind the State of Global Air report. Last year, the yearly report emphasizes on how air pollution was affecting childbirth and pregnancy and it was finalized that air pollution played a part in the deaths of about 476,000 babies in 2019.
Scientists have not conclusively given an explanation on the reason air pollution seems to be closely linked to preterm births.
Generally, it's obvious that air pollution can build up toxic chemicals in the blood and cause stress to the immune system, which can make the placenta surrounding the fetus weak, resulting in premature birth.
It was also indicated in studies that soot particles can make their way into the fetal section of the placenta, which could lead to inflammatory responses and could possibly react with the DNA also.
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