Air pollution linked to low birth weight
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
Mothers who breathe the kind of pollution emitted by vehicles, coal power plants and factories are significantly likelier to give birth to underweight children than mothers living in less polluted areas, according to international findings published Wednesday.
The study is believed to be the largest to examine how newborns' bodies are affected by air quality, an issue that has raised particular concern in China and other developing nations.
Nearly 30 researchers, including three from the Bay Area, based their conclusions on more than 3 million births at 14 sites in North America, South America, Europe, Asia and Australia.
Focusing on children born on-time in the mid-1990s to mid-2000s, they found that, worldwide, the greater the air pollution, the less babies tend to weigh at birth.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/health/article/Air-pollution-linked-to-low-birth-weight-4254514.php
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