Effects of Air Pollution on the Risk of Congenital Anomalies: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Esther Kai-Chieh Chen, Denis Zmirou-Navier, Cindy Padilla and Séverine Deguen
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Esther Kai-Chieh Chen: School of Public Health, EHESP, Sorbonne-Paris-Cité, Rennes, Cedex 35043, France
Denis Zmirou-Navier: School of Public Health, EHESP, Sorbonne-Paris-Cité, Rennes, Cedex 35043, France
Cindy Padilla: School of Public Health, EHESP, Sorbonne-Paris-Cité, Rennes, Cedex 35043, France
Séverine Deguen: School of Public Health, EHESP, Sorbonne-Paris-Cité, Rennes, Cedex 35043, France

IJERPH, 2014, vol. 11, issue 8, 1-27

Abstract: Congenital anomalies are the main causes of preterm and neonatal mortality and morbidity. We investigated the association between congenital anomalies and mothers’ exposure to air pollution during pregnancy by combining risk estimates for a variety of air pollutants (SO 2 , NO 2 , PM 10 , PM 2.5 , CO and O 3 ) and anomaly defect outcomes. Seventeen articles were included in the systematic review and thirteen studies were taken into account in the meta-analysis. Combined estimated were calculated separately according to whether the exposure metric was continuous or categorical. Only one significant combination was; NO 2 concentrations were significantly associated with coarctation of the aorta (OR = 1.20 per 10 ppb, 95% CI, (1.02, 1.41)). This finding could stem from strong heterogeneity in study designs. Improved exposure assessment methods, in particular more accurate spatial measurements or modeling, standardized definition of cases and of better control of confounders are highly recommended for future congenital anomalies research in this area.

Keywords: meta-analysis; congenital anomalies; exposure; air pollution (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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