Women exposed to high levels of traffic pollution during the second trimester of pregnancy are at higher risk of giving birth to a child with weak lungs, researchers said. In a long-term study, investigators in Barcelona enrolled 1,295 pregnant women who attended pre-natal clinics in Sabadell, in Catalonia, and at Gipuzkoa in the north-western Basque region.
They measured two traffic pollutants - benzene and nitrous dioxide - in the women's residential neighbourhoods at different times during their pregnancy.
They used this data to draw up a model of exposure for the women, and also for their offspring during their first year of life. The model took account of differences in geography, climate, population density and time of year.
When the children reached four and a half years of age, a nurse measured their lung capacity with an inflation gadget called a spirometer. A total 620 pre-schoolers were tested - many others were unable to blow properly into the device. The children of women exposed to higher benzene levels during their fourth to sixth months of pregnancy were 22 percent more likely to have impaired lung function than those from less polluted areas, the study found.
For nitrous oxide, the risk was 30 percent higher. The link was stronger among children with allergies, or those from a lower social class.
But exposure levels to traffic pollution in the first year of life made no difference to lung strength, the inquiry found. The results "suggest that exposure to traffic-related air pollutants during the prenatal period could adversely impact the developing lung," the authors reported in the journal Thorax.
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