Air pollution exposure in the womb linked to increased cerebral palsy risk

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2024-07-10 01:00

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Higher exposure to air pollution during pregnancy is associated with a higher risk of the baby developing cerebral palsy, according to a Canadian study. The researchers used national health data to compare exposure to ambient fine particulate matter with a diameter 2.5 μm (PM2.5) or smaller, nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and ozone (O3) with birth outcomes among over 1.5 million pairs of mothers and children. 0.2% of the children in the study were diagnosed with cerebral palsy. The researchers say exposure to a higher cumulative amount of air pollution was associated with a 12% increased risk of a cerebral palsy diagnosis, with the link stronger among boys. This link should be further investigated to see if there is a specific biological cause we can identify, the researchers say.

Media release

From: JAMA

About The Study: In this large cohort study of singleton full term births in Canada, prenatal ambient PM2.5 exposure was associated with an increased risk of cerebral palsy in offspring. Further studies are needed to explore this association and its potential biological pathways, which could advance the identification of environmental risk factors of cerebral palsy in early life.

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Research JAMA, Web page The URL will go live after the embargo ends

Journal/
conference: JAMA Network Open

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Heath, USA

Funder: This work is supported by the US National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences grant No. R01ES031657, and the Addressing Air Pollution Horizontal Initiative research program of Health Canada. Parts of this material are based on data and/or information compiled and provided by Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI).

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