A new study suggests that air pollution in the United States may be causing each year thousands of premature births, costing billions of dollars along the way.
The study has been published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, on Tuesday, March 29. The findings of the new research suggest that air pollution has grim health consequences and economic burdens all over the world.
According to The Columbus Dispatch, the research team has focused on a type of pollution known as fine particulate matter. These are tiny particles less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter, emitted by industrial activities, factories and traffic.
Previous studies have shown that exposure to particulate matter could lead to all kinds of adverse health outcomes, especially cardiovascular problems. Exposure to particulate matter is also linked every year to millions of premature deaths.
The new study came to provide increasing evidence that exposure to particulate matter could also lead to premature birth and other problems related to pregnancy and birth, according to Leonardo Trasande, lead study author and associate professor of pediatrics at New York University's School of Medicine.
It is believed that air pollution exposure can lead to inflammation of the placenta during pregnancy, resulting an early delivery. Preterm birth is associated with a variety of medical problems including cerebral palsy, breathing and feeding difficulties, increased risk of infant mortality, increased risk of developing other diseases, developmental delays and cognitive impairment throughout life.
All these complications have tremendous economic implications that often split into two sides: the social costs and the economic costs of pollution reduction. Trasande explained that the research team has decided to quantify the costs of preterm birth and disease burden.
The research team used previous studies on the effects of exposure to particulate matter in increasing risks of preterm birth to estimate how many premature babies were caused by pollution exposure in 2010. Trasande, along with New York University colleagues Teresa Attina and Patrick Malecha used data on preterm births from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and air pollution data from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
