Meeting report: atmospheric pollution and human reproduction

Rémy Slama, Lyndsey Darrow, Jennifer Parker, Tracey J Woodruff, Matthew Strickland, Mark Nieuwenhuijsen, Svetlana Glinianaia, Katherine J Hoggatt, Srimathi Kannan, Fintan Hurley, Jaroslaw Kalinka, Radim Srám, Michael Brauer, Michelle Wilhelm, Joachim Heinrich, Beate Ritz, Rémy Slama, Lyndsey Darrow, Jennifer Parker, Tracey J Woodruff, Matthew Strickland, Mark Nieuwenhuijsen, Svetlana Glinianaia, Katherine J Hoggatt, Srimathi Kannan, Fintan Hurley, Jaroslaw Kalinka, Radim Srám, Michael Brauer, Michelle Wilhelm, Joachim Heinrich, Beate Ritz

Abstract

Background: There is a growing body of epidemiologic literature reporting associations between atmospheric pollutants and reproductive outcomes, particularly birth weight and gestational duration.

Objectives: The objectives of our international workshop were to discuss the current evidence, to identify the strengths and weaknesses of published epidemiologic studies, and to suggest future directions for research.

Discussion: Participants identified promising exposure assessment tools, including exposure models with fine spatial and temporal resolution that take into account time-activity patterns. More knowledge on factors correlated with exposure to air pollution, such as other environmental pollutants with similar temporal variations, and assessment of nutritional factors possibly influencing birth outcomes would help evaluate importance of residual confounding. Participants proposed a list of points to report in future publications on this topic to facilitate research syntheses. Nested case-control studies analyzed using two-phase statistical techniques and development of cohorts with extensive information on pregnancy behaviors and biological samples are promising study designs. Issues related to the identification of critical exposure windows and potential biological mechanisms through which air pollutants may lead to intrauterine growth restriction and premature birth were reviewed.

Conclusions: To make progress, this research field needs input from toxicology, exposure assessment, and clinical research, especially to aid in the identification and exposure assessment of feto-toxic agents in ambient air, in the development of early markers of adverse reproductive outcomes, and of relevant biological pathways. In particular, additional research using animal models would help better delineate the biological mechanisms underpinning the associations reported in human studies.

Keywords: atmospheric pollution; bias; birth weight; environment; exposure assessment; fecundity; geographic information system; intrauterine growth restriction; particulate matter; pregnancy; reproduction; small for gestational age.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Hypothesized relations between air pollution, IUGR, and extraneous factors possibly acting as confounders in an epidemiologic study of air pollution effects on IUGR. Abbreviations: ETS, environmental tobacco smoke; BMI, body mass index; SES, marker of socioeconomic status (e.g., maternal education). Arrows indicate plausible effects of a factor over another not mediated by another factor present in the diagram. A dotted arrow indicates a plausible although not established relation. An arrow from a factor A that intersects an arrow from B to C indicates that A may modify the effect of B on C (Weinberg 2007).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Possible biological mechanisms by which air pollutants could influence IUGR or prematurity. IL, interleukin.

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