Small-Scale Variations in Urban Air Pollution Levels Are Significantly Associated with Premature Births: A Case Study in São Paulo, Brazil

Silvia Regina Dias Medici Saldiva, Ligia Vizeu Barrozo, Clea Rodrigues Leone, Marcelo Antunes Failla, Eliana De Aquino Bonilha, Regina Tomie Ivata Bernal, Regiani Carvalho de Oliveira and Paulo Hilário Nascimento Saldiva
Additional contact information
Silvia Regina Dias Medici Saldiva: Centro de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento para o SUS, Instituto de Saúde, Secretaria do Estado da Saúde de São Paulo, Rua Santo Antônio, 590-Bela Vista, São Paulo 01314-000, Brazil
Ligia Vizeu Barrozo: Departamento de Geografia da Faculdade de Ciências, Letras e Filosofia da Universidade de São Paulo, Cidade Universitária, Av. Prof. Luciano Gualberto—Butantã, São Paulo 05344-020, Brazil
Clea Rodrigues Leone: Departamento de Pediatria da Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo, Av. Dr. Enéas de Carvalho Aguiar, 647-Cerqueira César, São Paulo 05403-000, Brazil
Marcelo Antunes Failla: Coordenação de Epidemiologia e Informação (CEInfo)—Secretaria Municipal da Saúde de São Paulo, R. General Jardim, 36-5º andar-Vila Buarque, São Paulo 01223-010, Brazil
Eliana De Aquino Bonilha: Coordenação de Epidemiologia e Informação (CEInfo)—Secretaria Municipal da Saúde de São Paulo, R. General Jardim, 36-5º andar-Vila Buarque, São Paulo 01223-010, Brazil
Regina Tomie Ivata Bernal: Núcleo de Pesquisas Epidemiológicas em Nutrição e Saúde da Faculdade de Saúde Pública da Universidade de São Paulo, Av. Dr. Arnaldo, 715-Cerqueira César, São Paulo 01246-000, Brazil
Regiani Carvalho de Oliveira: Laboratório de Poluição Ambiental do Departamento de Patologia da Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo, Av. Dr. Arnaldo, 455-Cerqueira César, São Paulo 01246-903, Brazil
Paulo Hilário Nascimento Saldiva: Instituto de Estudos Avançados da Universidade de São Paulo, Rua da Praça do Relógio, 109 andar Térreo. Cidade Universitária, São Paulo 05508-050, Brazil

IJERPH, 2018, vol. 15, issue 10, 1-16

Abstract: Premature birth is the result of a complex interaction among genetic, epigenetic, behavioral, socioeconomic, and environmental factors. We evaluated the possible associations between air pollution and the incidence of prematurity in spatial clusters of high and low prevalence in the municipality of São Paulo. It is a spatial case-control study. The residential addresses of mothers with live births that occurred in 2012 and 2013 were geo-coded. A spatial scan statistical test performed to identify possible low-prevalence and high-prevalence clusters of premature births. After identifying, the spatial clusters were drawn samples of cases and controls in each cluster. Mothers were interviewed face-to-face using questionnaires. Air pollution exposure was assessed by passive tubes (NO 2 and O 3 ) as well as by the determination of trace elements’ concentration in tree bark. Binary logistic regression models were applied to determine the significance of the risk of premature birth. Later prenatal care, urinary infection, and hypertension were individual risk factors for prematurity. Particles produced by traffic emissions (estimated by tree bark accumulation) and photochemical pollutants involved in the photochemical cycle (estimated by O 3 and NO 2 passive tubes) also exhibited significant and robust risks for premature births. The results indicate that air pollution is an independent risk factor for prematurity.

Keywords: premature birth; air pollution; air monitoring; spatial analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/10/2236/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/10/2236/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:15:y:2018:i:10:p:2236-:d:175195

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().