Thanks to a temporary reducing of breeze pollution , woman in Beijing who were pregnant during the 2008 Olympics gave birth to infant who weighed more . agree tofindingspublished inEnvironmental Health Perspectivesthis hebdomad , photo to high levels of pollution during the net weeks of a pregnancy can significantly impact the ontogenesis and development of the foetus .
Previous study have tie in low birth weight with high immersion of air pollutants experienced during maternity – but when during the pregnancy does pollution make the handsome difference ? To figure this out , a team led byUniversity of Rochester ’s David Richand Kaibo Liu ofCapital Medical Universityin Beijing turned to a innate experiment : In the month leading up to the 2008 Olympics and Paralympics , the Chinese government launched a series of measures to better the capital city ’s notoriously bad air timber . Restrictions were placed on auto utilization , factories were closed , construction task were stopped , and there were also attempt atcloud seeding . The result was a six - to - seven - week period that boasted a 60 percentage reduction in sulfur dioxide concentrations , a 48 percent reduction in carbon monoxide , a 43 percent reduction in N dioxide , and fewer particles that were smaller than 2.5 micrometer in diam .
The team looked at information on 83,672 full - term parentage by women living in four urban dominion of Beijing , necessitate note of how many months pregnant each mother - to - be was from August 8 through September 24 , 2008 . Then they compared the birth weight of these Olympic baby to newborns from the same menstruation in 2007 and 2009 .
woman who were pregnant during the games gave birth to children with high-pitched giving birth weights , compared to those who were significant before and after the biz . In special , fair sex who were eight months pregnant during the Olympics gave parturition to child who were , on middling , 23 grams heavy . The squad escort no major connection between pollution and birth weight for months one through seven .
“ The results of this study demonstrate a clean tie-up between changes in air pollutant concentrations and birth system of weights , ” Rich enounce in anews exit . Late in the gestation , the foetus experiences the most amount of physical growth , and the growth of the central nervous , cardiovascular , and musculoskeletal system really accelerate . “ These findings not only exemplify one of the many significant health consequences of pollution , ” Rich tote up , “ but also shew that this phenomenon can be overrule . ” Though , researcher have yet to figure out exactly how pollution causes down in the mouth nativity weights . [ ViaUniversity of Rochester ]
