Skip to content
Search
Close
SHOP
  • News
  • Analysis
  • Commentary
  • Essays
  • Interviews
  • Reviews
  • Tributes
  • Media
Menu
  • News
  • Analysis
  • Commentary
  • Essays
  • Interviews
  • Reviews
  • Tributes
  • Media
  • NEWS

Air Pollution Linked to One Million Stillbirths

Air pollution particles have been associated with increased miscarriages, premature births, low birth weights, and disturbed brain development. 
  • Bridget Ryder
  • — December 16, 2022
Air pollution particles have been associated with increased miscarriages, premature births, low birth weights, and disturbed brain development. 
  • Bridget Ryder
  • — December 16, 2022

A novel global study has attributed approximately a million stillbirths a year in Asia, Africa, and Latin America to air pollution.

The first-of-its-kind study was published in Nature Communications at the end of November, the work of a team of scientists led by Dr. Tao Xue at Peking University in China. 

The study examined stillbirths in 137 countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, where 98% of stillbirths occur, by tracking pregnancy outcomes and air pollution as measured in ambient fine particulates from 1998-2016. The researchers concluded that almost half of stillbirths could be linked to exposure to pollution particles smaller than 2.5 microns (PM2.5).

“We found a robust association between PM2.5 levels and stillbirths,” the study reads. “According to the fully adjusted model, each 10 μg/m3 increment in PM2.5 was associated with a 11.0% (95% CI: 6.4, 15.7) increased risk of stillbirth.”

The World Health Organization considers air pollution concentrations above 5 micrograms per cubic metre harmful to human health, and almost all of the women examined in the study had been exposed to levels of air pollution above that. It attributed 45% of the 2.09 million stillbirths recorded in 2015 in the countries included in the study to exposure to high concentrations of air pollution and particulate levels above the WHO recommendations. Nigeria, Pakistan, and China had a particularly high proportion of stillbirths attributed to PM2.5 pollution, according to the study.  

This research comes on the heels of a study published in October that found toxic ambient particulates in the lungs and brains of foetuses. Air pollution particles have already been associated with increased miscarriages, premature births, low birth weights, and disturbed brain development. 

Professor Gregory Wellenius, the director of the Center for Climate and Health at Boston University in the U.S., who was not involved in the research, told the Guardian: “This study is novel and demonstrates that at current levels, air pollution contributes to a substantial number of stillbirths around the world:”

Health impact assessments such as this are always based on a number of important assumptions. Although the fraction of stillbirths that might be prevented through meaningful reductions in PM2.5 is uncertain, the study adds to the abundance of scientific evidence showing that reducing air pollution levels would improve the health of people around the world, particularly among the most vulnerable individuals.

Fortunately, the total number of stillbirths fell from 2.31 million in 2010 to 1.93 million in 2019, a consequence, according to the researchers, of improved air quality in some of the countries included in the study. 

Bridget Ryder is a news writer for The European Conservative. She holds degrees in Spanish and Catholic Studies.
  • Tags: air pollution, births, Bridget Ryder, stillbirths

READ NEXT

Suspicion of Foreign Interference at BFM TV Channel

Hélène de Lauzun February 8, 2023

UK Officials Predict Thousands More Migrants Will Make Illegal Channel Crossings This Year

Michael Curzon February 8, 2023

UK Welcome To Rejoin EU at “Any Time” as Brussels Officials “Dream” of Bloc Expansion

Michael Curzon February 8, 2023

IMPRESSUM

SUBSCRIPTION

LOG IN

PRIVACY POLICY

CONTACT

[email protected]

© The European Conservative 2023

  • Impressum
  • Privacy Policy
  • General Privacy Policy
  • Terms & Conditions

Made by DIGITALHERO

Issue 25, Winter 2023

  • News
  • Analysis
  • Commentary
  • Essays
  • Interviews
  • Reviews
  • Tributes
  • Media
Menu
  • News
  • Analysis
  • Commentary
  • Essays
  • Interviews
  • Reviews
  • Tributes
  • Media
Search

About

SHOP

JOBS & VACANCIES

Login