Exposure to Stress and Air Pollution from Bushfires during Pregnancy: Could Epigenetic Changes Explain Effects on the Offspring?

Vanessa E. Murphy, Wilfried Karmaus, Joerg Mattes, Bronwyn K. Brew, Adam Collison, Elizabeth Holliday, Megan E. Jensen, Geoffrey G. Morgan, Graeme R. Zosky, Vanessa M. McDonald, Edward Jegasothy, Paul D. Robinson and Peter G. Gibson
Additional contact information
Vanessa E. Murphy: Priority Research Centre Grow Up Well, Hunter Medical Research Institute, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, NSW 2308, Australia
Wilfried Karmaus: Division of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Environmental Health Science, School of Public Health, The University of Memphis, Memphis, TN 38152, USA
Joerg Mattes: Priority Research Centre Grow Up Well, Hunter Medical Research Institute, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, NSW 2308, Australia
Bronwyn K. Brew: National Perinatal Epidemiology and Biostatistics Unit, Centre for Big Data Research in Health, Department of Medicine, School of Women’s and Children’s Health, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
Adam Collison: Priority Research Centre Grow Up Well, Hunter Medical Research Institute, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, NSW 2308, Australia
Elizabeth Holliday: Faculty of Health, School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, NSW 2308, Australia
Megan E. Jensen: Priority Research Centre Grow Up Well, Hunter Medical Research Institute, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, NSW 2308, Australia
Geoffrey G. Morgan: University Centre for Rural Health, Sydney School of Public Health, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
Graeme R. Zosky: Menzies Institute for Medical Research, University of Tasmania, Hobart, TAS 7000, Australia
Vanessa M. McDonald: Priority Research Centre for Healthy Lungs, Hunter Medical Research Institute, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, NSW 2308, Australia
Edward Jegasothy: University Centre for Rural Health, Sydney School of Public Health, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
Paul D. Robinson: Department of Respiratory Medicine, The Children’s Hospital at Westmead, Sydney, NSW 2145, Australia
Peter G. Gibson: Priority Research Centre for Healthy Lungs, Hunter Medical Research Institute, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, NSW 2308, Australia

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 14, 1-12

Abstract: Due to climate change, bushfires are becoming a more frequent and more severe phenomenon which contributes to poor health effects associated with air pollution. In pregnancy, environmental exposures can have lifelong consequences for the fetus, but little is known about these consequences in the context of bushfire smoke exposure. In this review we summarise the current knowledge in this area, and propose a potential mechanism linking bushfire smoke exposure in utero to poor perinatal and respiratory outcomes in the offspring. Bushfire smoke exposure is associated with poor pregnancy outcomes including reduced birth weight and an increased risk of prematurity. Some publications have outlined the adverse health effects on young children, particularly in relation to emergency department presentations and hospital admissions for respiratory problems, but there are no studies in children who were exposed to bushfire smoke in utero. Prenatal stress is likely to occur as a result of catastrophic bushfire events, and stress is known to be associated with poor perinatal and respiratory outcomes. Changes to DNA methylation are potential epigenetic mechanisms linking both smoke particulate exposure and prenatal stress to poor childhood respiratory health outcomes. More research is needed in large pregnancy cohorts exposed to bushfire events to explore this further, and to design appropriate mitigation interventions, in this area of global public health importance.

Keywords: wildfire; epigenetics; DNA methylation; PM2.5; asthma; pregnancy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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