L.A. Traffic Causing Premature Births: Study

June 30, 2009 -- As famous for its traffic jams as it is for Hollywood star power, the Los Angeles, Calif. area has another dirty little secret: Air pollution is sickening pregnant women who live near roadways, more than doubling their risk of a premature birth, according to a new study.

Scientists have known for years that smog plays havoc with residents' health. Asthma, blood pressure and a host of cardiovascular diseases all get worse in people exposed to high levels of air pollution.

Now Jun Wu of the University of California, Irvine and a team of researchers have shown that the effects are amplified for pregnant women living within three kilometers (1.9 miles) of a major roadway.

Among the most polluted parts of the country, the Port of Long Beach and southern Los Angeles County roadways are choked with traffic on a daily basis.

A comparison of medical records from 81,186 single child births to air pollution levels in the area revealed that high pollution exposure raised the risk of a severely premature birth by 128 percent.

Moms-to-be were also between 33 and 42 percent more likely to develop preeclampsia, an affliction characterized by high blood pressure that often forces doctors to induce premature birth in order to save mothers' lives.

The team's study is in due to be published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

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"Patients need to be aware of this type of information," Wu said. "Women living close to freeways should be careful and close their windows, or if they're in the car, close the windows and put the air conditioning on," to filter air coming into the car.

Several studies conducted in recent years have strengthened the the link between air pollution and pregnancy problems -- along with premature births, overall low birth weight has also been documented. Such conditions increase children's risk for a host of health problems later in life.

"Anything you can do to reduce low birth weight and pre-term births is going to have big public health benefits," Michael Brauer of the University of British Columbia said. "If there's something preventable like air pollution, you want to advise women to avoid it."

He added that doctors should start cautioning women who live in highly polluted regions to limit their exposure to air pollution from traffic when they become pregnant, in much the same way as they issue standard warnings about smoking, drinking alcohol and caffeine consumption.

"There is probably enough information now to make general statements about air pollution," Brauer said. "It depends on what things people can modify in their life, but it might be a good idea to limit your time near traffic or change when you commute so it's not during rush hour."

Related Links:

Environmental Health Perspectives.

HowStuffWorks: Pregnancy

Discovery Health