Residential Proximity to Roadways and Ischemic Placental Disease in a Cape Cod Family Health Study

Amelia K. Wesselink, Jenny L. Carwile, María Patricia Fabian, Michael R. Winter, Lindsey J. Butler, Shruthi Mahalingaiah and Ann Aschengrau
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Amelia K. Wesselink: Department of Epidemiology, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02118, USA
Jenny L. Carwile: Department of Epidemiology, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02118, USA
María Patricia Fabian: Department of Environmental Health, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02118, USA
Michael R. Winter: Data Coordinating Center, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02118, USA
Lindsey J. Butler: Department of Environmental Health, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02118, USA
Shruthi Mahalingaiah: Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA 02118, USA
Ann Aschengrau: Department of Epidemiology, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02118, USA

IJERPH, 2017, vol. 14, issue 7, 1-14

Abstract: Exposure to air pollution may adversely impact placental function through a variety of mechanisms; however, epidemiologic studies have found mixed results. We examined the association between traffic exposure and placental-related obstetric conditions in a retrospective cohort study on Cape Cod, MA, USA. We assessed exposure to traffic using proximity metrics (distance of residence to major roadways and length of major roadways within a buffer around the residence). The outcomes included self-reported ischemic placental disease (the presence of at least one of the following conditions: preeclampsia, placental abruption, small-for-gestational-age), stillbirth, and vaginal bleeding. We used log-binomial regression models to estimate risk ratios (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI), adjusting for potential confounders. We found no substantial association between traffic exposure and ischemic placental disease, small-for-gestational-age, preeclampsia, or vaginal bleeding. We found some evidence of an increased risk of stillbirth and placental abruption among women living the closest to major roadways (RRs comparing living <100 m vs. ?200 m = 1.75 (95% CI: 0.82–3.76) and 1.71 (95% CI: 0.56–5.23), respectively). This study provides some support for the hypothesis that air pollution exposure adversely affects the risk of placental abruption and stillbirth; however, the results were imprecise due to the small number of cases, and may be impacted by non-differential exposure misclassification and selection bias.

Keywords: ischemic placental disease; placenta; pregnancy; air pollution; traffic (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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