Exposure to wildfire smoke during pregnancy increases the risk of preterm birth

A new study from Stanford University shows that exposure to wildfire smoke during pregnancy increases the risk of premature birth

The study, published in the journal Environmental Research on August 14th, found that between 2007 and 2012, due to exposure to wildfire smoke, there may be as many as 7,000 premature babies in California

Wildfire smoke contains a large amount of the smallest and deadly particulate pollution, namely PM 2.

This study was conducted in a situation where large-scale wildfires once again ravaged the arid regions of the western United States

Marshall Burke, an environmental economist at Stanford University, co-author of the new study, said it could be worse this year

The researchers said that one possible explanation for the link between wildfire smoke exposure and premature birth is that pollution may trigger an inflammatory response that can initiate labor

Extreme wildfire

New research results indicate that wildfire smoke may have contributed to more than 6% of preterm births in California

"In the future, due to the combined effects of climate change, a century of fire-fighting measures, and the construction of more houses on the edge of forests, bushes and grasslands prone to fire, we expect the entire western region to be exposed more frequently and more intensely.

This research provides new evidence of the value of investing in prescribed combustion, mechanical thinning, or other efforts to reduce the risk of extreme wildfires

"There is no safe level of exposure"

The researchers analyzed satellite smoke and dust data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to determine the number of smoke days for each of the 2,610 zip codes

After considering other factors that affect the risk of preterm birth, such as temperature, baseline pollution exposure, and the mother’s age, income, race, or ethnic background, they looked at how preterm birth changed in each postal code pattern when the number and intensity of roses were higher than that on a smoky day.

They found that regardless of race, ethnicity or income, every additional day of exposure to smoke during pregnancy increases the risk of preterm birth

These findings build on the established link between particle contamination and poor birth outcomes, including premature birth, low birth weight, and infant death

"Our work, and some other recent papers, clearly show that there is no safe level of particulate matter exposure

DOI 10.
1016 / j.
envres.
2021.
111872

Associations between wildfire smoke exposure during pregnancy and risk of preterm birth in California