Grantee Research Project Results
Final Report: Effect of Multi-Level Environmental Exposure on Birth Outcomes
EPA Grant Number: R834596C001Subproject: this is subproject number 001 , established and managed by the Center Director under grant R834596
(EPA does not fund or establish subprojects; EPA awards and manages the overall grant for this center).
Center: Center for Integrative Research on Childhood Leukemia and the Environment - 2015
Center Director: Metayer, Catherine
Title: Effect of Multi-Level Environmental Exposure on Birth Outcomes
Investigators: Tager, Ira , Hammond, S. Katharine , Gale, Sara L , Shaw, Gary M. , Padula, Amy
Institution: University of California - Berkeley , Stanford University
EPA Project Officer: Callan, Richard
Project Period: May 7, 2010 through May 6, 2013 (Extended to May 6, 2014)
RFA: Children's Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research Centers: Formative Centers (with NIEHS) (2009) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Children's Health , Human Health
Objective:
To determine if the associations between adverse pregnancy outcomes (low birth weight, pre-term and small for gestation age) and exposure to ambient air pollutants and endotoxin are increased in women who reside in impoverished neighborhoods and are socially disadvantaged at the individual level.
Elevated air pollution levels and higher traffic density have been implicated as having adverse effects on the health of children and adults. Outcomes include reduced birth weight and gestational duration, decreased pulmonary function and coronary heart disease. Many of the outcomes are more common within communities with lower socioeconomic status (SES) and more ethnic diversity; these are the same communities that tend to have higher air pollution and traffic density, at least in the United States. It may be a case of environmental justice with important health consequences and may invoke policy change to address such potential injustice.
Summary/Accomplishments (Outputs/Outcomes):
The specific aim posed for this project was rigorously completed. This project used data from the Study of Air pollution, Genetics and the Environment, which include birth certificates in the four most populous counties of the San Joaquin Valley of California from 2000-2006. Ambient air pollution measurements and traffic metrics were assigned to the geocoded maternal residences. The exposures included: ozone (O3), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), nitrogen oxide (NO), carbon monoxide (CO), particulate matter < 10 μg/m3 (PM10), PM < 2.5 μg/m3 (PM2.5) and traffic density. In addition, researchers used land use regression to assign PAH (rings 4,5,6) estimates for the entire pregnancy (and the last 6 weeks) of each of the maternal residences within 20 km of Fresnos central site monitor for births between 2000-2006. These exposure metrics are being analyzed further to identify the relationship between PAH exposure during pregnancy and preterm birth.
The results showed associations between air pollution and adverse birth outcomes. Using targeted maximum likelihood estimation to examine the relationship between traffic and term low birth weight, the results showed that if a population lived near high volume freeways (estimated by the 4th quartile of traffic density), the estimated probability of term low birth weight would be 2.27% (95% confidence interval: 2.16, 2.38) compared to 2.02% (95% confidence interval: 1.90, 2.12) if the same population lived near smaller local roads (1st quartile of traffic density). These findings were published recently in the American Journal of Epidemiology.
The principal investigators have drafted a manuscript on traffic-related air pollution and four levels of prematurity based on gestational age at birth (20-27 weeks, 28-31 weeks, 32-33 weeks and 34-36 weeks) versus term (37-42 weeks). There were increased odds of prematurity at 20-27 weeks gestation for those exposed to the highest quartile of each pollutant during the 2nd trimester of pregnancy with adjusted odds ratios ranging from 1.6 to 2.5. The associations were substantially stronger in those with low neighborhood socioeconomic status with adjusted odds ratios ranging from 1.8 to 3.7. Exposure to PM, particularly during mid to late pregnancy, was associated with all gestational definitions of prematurity with the strongest associations for the earliest premature births. These results confirm previous studies that have found associations between traffic-related air pollution and prematurity. This study adds an important new finding: that very early preterm births and low SES underlie the association.
To further explore these findings of neighborhood SES as a modifier in the relationship between air pollution and prematurity, future research will include development of a more robust indicator of neighborhood deprivation. The investigators have constructed the ½ mile neighborhood surrounding each of the maternal residences for births between 2000-2006 in Fresno County (N = 90,196). Preliminary work on neighborhood deprivation factors was conducted on the neighborhood factors in the FACES cohort (N = 315) to pilot the program of the IRT analysis. GIS data of attributes of these neighborhoods were collected (road network and traffic, alcohol and cigarette sales, wildfires, Superfund sites, grocery stores and farmers markets, schools and daycares, hospitals, water quality, crime). To understand the complex neighborhood environment, we used item response theory to help characterize the variables that make up a deprived neighborhood. The item parameters are all of the covariates, which were converted to be positive and negative (0 = negative neighborhood influence, 1 = positive neighborhood influence). The next step is to examine neighborhood deprivation as an effect modifier in the relationship between traffic-related air pollution and adverse birth outcomes in the CHAPS study population.
Conclusions:
Elevated air pollution levels and higher traffic density have been implicated as having adverse effects on the health of children and adults. Outcomes include reduced birth weight and gestational duration, decreased pulmonary function and coronary heart disease. Many of the outcomes are more common within communities with lower socioeconomic status (SES) and more ethnic diversity; these are the same communities that tend to have higher air pollution and traffic-density, at least in the United States. These findings suggest a case of environmental justice with important health consequences and may invoke policy change to address such potential injustice.
Journal Articles on this Report : 2 Displayed | Download in RIS Format
Other subproject views: | All 14 publications | 2 publications in selected types | All 2 journal articles |
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Other center views: | All 50 publications | 15 publications in selected types | All 15 journal articles |
Type | Citation | ||
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Padula AM, Mortimer K, Hubbard A, Lurmann F, Jerrett M, Tager IB. Exposure to traffic-related air pollution during pregnancy and term low birth weight: estimation of causal associations in a semiparametric model. American Journal of Epidemiology 2012;176(9):815-824. |
R834596 (2010) R834596 (2011) R834596 (2012) R834596 (Final) R834596C001 (2011) R834596C001 (2012) R834596C001 (Final) |
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Padula AM, Mortimer KM, Tager IB, Hammond SK, Lurmann FW, Yang W, Stevenson DK, Shaw GM. Traffic-related air pollution and risk of preterm birth in the San Joaquin Valley of California. Annals of Epidemiology 2014;24(12):888-895e4. |
R834596 (2012) R834596 (Final) R834596C001 (2012) R834596C001 (Final) R835435 (2015) R835435 (2016) R835435 (2018) R835435 (Final) |
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Supplemental Keywords:
air pollution, low birthweight, preterm births, neighborhood effects, cumulative impact, RFA, Health, Scientific Discipline, ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, HUMAN HEALTH, Biochemistry, Health Effects, Children's Health, Biology, Risk Assessment, asthma, air toxics, prenatal exposure, measuring childhood exposure, biological response, air pollution, children's vulnerablity, assessment of exposure, childhood respiratory disease, harmful environmental agents, developmental disordersRelevant Websites:
CHAPS - SJV: Children's Health & Air Pollution Study - San Joaquin Valley ExitCHAPS - SJV: About Us Exit
Progress and Final Reports:
Original AbstractMain Center Abstract and Reports:
R834596 Center for Integrative Research on Childhood Leukemia and the Environment - 2015 Subprojects under this Center: (EPA does not fund or establish subprojects; EPA awards and manages the overall grant for this center).
R834596C001 Effect of Multi-Level Environmental Exposure on Birth Outcomes
R834596C002 Exposure to Air Pollutants and Risk of Birth Defects
R834596C003 Ambient Pollutant/Bioaerosol Effects on Treg Function
The perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.
Project Research Results
2 journal articles for this subproject
Main Center: R834596
50 publications for this center
15 journal articles for this center