Health & Medicine
Pregnant Women In Urban Areas May Harm Lung Function Of Future Children
Kathleen Lees
First Posted: Oct 26, 2014 08:09 PM EDT
Expectant mothers need to take the necessary precautions in order to prevent risk of harming their future child.
Previous studies have shown that those with an unhealthy diet can increase their child's risk of obesity in the future. Mothers who may be unable to give up cigarettes could also cause significant damage to the future of their child, causing low-birth weight or potentially still birth.
Now, recent findings published in the journal Thorax reveal that pregnant women living in urban areas could also be at risk of harming the lung function of their future child through traffic pollution.
"Results suggest that exposure to traffic-related air pollutants acting during the prenatal period could adversely impact the developing lung," said study researchers at the Centre for Research in Environmental Epidemiology, in a news release. "Public policies to reduce exposure to traffic-related air pollution may avoid harmful effects on lung development and function with substantial public health benefits."
The study involved 1,295 women whose exposure to traffic pollution was determined throughout pregnancy. Researchers assessed their lung function with a pyrometer after the children were born.
Findings revealed that pregnant women who lived in areas of high benzene concentrations throughout the second trimester imparted a 22 percent higher risk of impaired lung function to their children. Furthermore, the risk increased to 30 percent when mothers were also exposed to nitrogen dioxide.
Researchers discovered that high exposure to benzene and nitrogen dioxide increases the risk of reduced lung function in some children.
Women living in high traffic areas need to be particularly mindful of this and other issues as their pregnancy continues.
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First Posted: Oct 26, 2014 08:09 PM EDT
Expectant mothers need to take the necessary precautions in order to prevent risk of harming their future child.
Previous studies have shown that those with an unhealthy diet can increase their child's risk of obesity in the future. Mothers who may be unable to give up cigarettes could also cause significant damage to the future of their child, causing low-birth weight or potentially still birth.
Now, recent findings published in the journal Thorax reveal that pregnant women living in urban areas could also be at risk of harming the lung function of their future child through traffic pollution.
"Results suggest that exposure to traffic-related air pollutants acting during the prenatal period could adversely impact the developing lung," said study researchers at the Centre for Research in Environmental Epidemiology, in a news release. "Public policies to reduce exposure to traffic-related air pollution may avoid harmful effects on lung development and function with substantial public health benefits."
The study involved 1,295 women whose exposure to traffic pollution was determined throughout pregnancy. Researchers assessed their lung function with a pyrometer after the children were born.
Findings revealed that pregnant women who lived in areas of high benzene concentrations throughout the second trimester imparted a 22 percent higher risk of impaired lung function to their children. Furthermore, the risk increased to 30 percent when mothers were also exposed to nitrogen dioxide.
Researchers discovered that high exposure to benzene and nitrogen dioxide increases the risk of reduced lung function in some children.
Women living in high traffic areas need to be particularly mindful of this and other issues as their pregnancy continues.
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone