Impact of London's road traffic air and noise pollution on birth weight: retrospective population based cohort study
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Objective To investigate the relation between exposure to both air and noise pollution from road traffic and birth weight outcomes.
Design Retrospective population based cohort study.
Setting Greater London and surrounding counties up to the M25 motorway (2317 km2), UK, from 2006 to 2010.
Participants 540 365 singleton term live births.
Main outcome measures Term low birth weight (LBW), small for gestational age (SGA) at term, and term birth weight.
Results Average air pollutant exposures across pregnancy were 41 μg/m3 nitrogen dioxide (NO2), 73 μg/m3 nitrogen oxides (NOx), 14 μg/m3 particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter <2.5 μm (PM2.5), 23 μg/m3 particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter <10 μm (PM10), and 32 μg/m3 ozone (O3). Average daytime (LAeq,16hr) and night-time (Lnight) road traffic A-weighted noise levels were 58 dB and 53 dB respectively. Interquartile range increases in NO2, NOx, PM2.5, PM10, and source specific PM2.5 from traffic exhaust (PM2.5 traffic exhaust) and traffic non-exhaust (brake or tyre wear and resuspension) (PM2.5 traffic non-exhaust) were associated with 2% to 6% increased odds of term LBW, and 1% to 3% increased odds of term SGA. Air pollutant associations were robust to adjustment for road traffic noise. Trends of decreasing birth weight across increasing road traffic noise categories were observed, but were strongly attenuated when adjusted for primary traffic related air pollutants. Only PM2.5 traffic exhaust and PM2.5 were consistently associated with increased risk of term LBW after adjustment for each of the other air pollutants. It was estimated that 3% of term LBW cases in London are directly attributable to residential exposure to PM2.5>13.8 μg/m3during pregnancy.
Conclusions The findings suggest that air pollution from road traffic in London is adversely affecting fetal growth. The results suggest little evidence for an independent exposure-response effect of traffic related noise on birth weight outcomes.
Design Retrospective population based cohort study.
Setting Greater London and surrounding counties up to the M25 motorway (2317 km2), UK, from 2006 to 2010.
Participants 540 365 singleton term live births.
Main outcome measures Term low birth weight (LBW), small for gestational age (SGA) at term, and term birth weight.
Results Average air pollutant exposures across pregnancy were 41 μg/m3 nitrogen dioxide (NO2), 73 μg/m3 nitrogen oxides (NOx), 14 μg/m3 particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter <2.5 μm (PM2.5), 23 μg/m3 particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter <10 μm (PM10), and 32 μg/m3 ozone (O3). Average daytime (LAeq,16hr) and night-time (Lnight) road traffic A-weighted noise levels were 58 dB and 53 dB respectively. Interquartile range increases in NO2, NOx, PM2.5, PM10, and source specific PM2.5 from traffic exhaust (PM2.5 traffic exhaust) and traffic non-exhaust (brake or tyre wear and resuspension) (PM2.5 traffic non-exhaust) were associated with 2% to 6% increased odds of term LBW, and 1% to 3% increased odds of term SGA. Air pollutant associations were robust to adjustment for road traffic noise. Trends of decreasing birth weight across increasing road traffic noise categories were observed, but were strongly attenuated when adjusted for primary traffic related air pollutants. Only PM2.5 traffic exhaust and PM2.5 were consistently associated with increased risk of term LBW after adjustment for each of the other air pollutants. It was estimated that 3% of term LBW cases in London are directly attributable to residential exposure to PM2.5>13.8 μg/m3during pregnancy.
Conclusions The findings suggest that air pollution from road traffic in London is adversely affecting fetal growth. The results suggest little evidence for an independent exposure-response effect of traffic related noise on birth weight outcomes.
Date Issued
2017-12-05
Date Acceptance
2017-12-01
Citation
BMJ, 2017, 359 (1)
ISSN
1756-1833
Publisher
BMJ Publishing Group Ltd
Journal / Book Title
BMJ
Volume
359
Issue
1
Copyright Statement
This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt and build upon this work, for commercial use, provided the original work is properly cited. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Sponsor
Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)
National Institute for Health Research
Medical Research Council (MRC)
Public Health England
Medical Research Council (MRC)
Medical Research Council (MRC)
Identifier
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29208602
Grant Number
NE/I00789X/1
RTJ6219303-1
G0801056B
6337091
G0801056
MR/L01341X/1
Subjects
Air Pollution/*adverse effects *Birth Weight Environmental Exposure/*adverse effects/statistics & numerical data Female Humans "Infant, Low Birth Weight" "Infant, Newborn" "Infant, Small for Gestational Age" London Male "Noise, Transportation/*adverse effects" Regression Analysis Retrospective Studies *Vehicle Emissions "N1 - Smith, Rachel B" "Fecht, Daniela" "Gulliver, John" "Beevers, Sean D" "Dajnak, David" "Blangiardo, Marta" "Ghosh, Rebecca E" "Hansell, Anna L" "Kelly, Frank J" "Anderson, H Ross" "Toledano, Mireille B" eng G0801056/Medical Research Council/United Kingdom MR/L01341X/1/Medical Research Council/United Kingdom NE/I00789X/1/Department of Health [UK]/International NE/I008039/1/Department of Health [UK]/International "Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't" England BMJ. 2017 Dec 5;359:j5299. doi: 10.1136/bmj.j5299.
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
j5299
Date Publish Online
2017-12-05