Preterm Birth among Infants Exposed to in Utero Ultrafine Particles from Aircraft Emissions

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Ambient air pollution is a known risk factor for adverse birth outcomes, but the role of ultrafine particles (UFPs) is not well understood. Aircraft-origin UFPs adversely affect air quality over large residential areas downwind of airports, but their reproductive health burden remains uninvestigated. OBJECTIVES: This analysis evaluated whether UFPs from jet aircraft emissions are associated with increased rates of preterm birth (PTB) among pregnant mothers living downwind of Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). METHODS: This population-based study used birth records, provided by the California Department of Public Health, to ascertain birth outcomes and a novel, validated geospatial UFP dispersion model approach to estimate in utero exposures. All mothers who gave birth from 2008 to 2016 while living within 15 km of LAX were included in this analysis (N = 174,186; including 15,134 PTBs). RESULTS: In utero exposure to aircraft-origin UFPs was positively associated with PTB. The odds ratio (OR) per interquartile range (IQR) increase [9,200 particles per cubic centimeter (cc)] relative UFP exposure was 1.04 [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.02, 1.06]. When comparing the fourth quartile of UFP exposure to the first quartile, the OR for PTB was 1.14 (95% CI: 1.08, 1.20), adjusting for maternal demographic characteristics, exposure to traffic-related air pollution, and airport-related noise. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that emissions from aircraft play an etiologic role in PTBs, independent of noise and traffic-related air pollution exposures. These findings are of public health concern because UFP exposures downwind of airfields are common and may affect large, densely populated residential areas.

Environmental impact of pollutants from commercial aircrafts at Hasan Polatkan airport

“…Emissions related to aircraft and airport have gained important attention in the last decades. A large number of studies have shown that emissions related to aircraft engine have significant impacts on air quality (Westerdahl et al , 2008; Masiol and Harrison, 2014; Shirmohammadi et al , 2017; Dinc, 2017), which affect adversely general public health and especially residential populations the vicinity airports (Barrett et al , 2010; Stettler et al , 2011; Habre et al , 2018; Wing et al , 2020; Song and Shon, 2012). Emissions related to aircraft are associated with a range of adverse health impacts including especially premature mortality, heart attacks, lung cancer, respiratory illness, and so on (Tokuslu, 2020).…”

“…Emissions related to aircraft are associated with a range of adverse health impacts including especially premature mortality, heart attacks, lung cancer, respiratory illness, and so on (Tokuslu, 2020). Wing et al drew attention to premature birth among infants exposed to emission related to aircraft (Wing et al , 2020). Barrett et al (2010) pointed out that approximately 10,000 preterm fatalities per year could be attributed to aircraft operations at the LTO cycle (20 per cent) and non-LTO cycle (80 per cent) (Barrett et al , 2010).…”

Before the First Breath: Prenatal Ultrafine Particulate Exposure and Incident Asthma

“…Despite the potential impacts of UFPs on sensitive populations, only the European Union regulates UFPs, albeit only filterable UFPs >23 nm from vehicles, (6) and there are no policies in occupational settings (7). While there is growing evidence from animal studies on the effects of in utero UFP exposure on development and subsequent disease (8), there have been relatively few studies in humans (9). Here, Wright and colleagues (10) add to this weight of evidence with the first analysis of prenatal UFP exposure and incident asthma in a prospective birth cohort in the United States (US).…”

“…Thus, these may be relatively healthy cohorts and this bias may result in underestimating the effects of in utero UFP exposure in the general population. For example, children with the highest UFP prenatal exposures may have been more likely to be born before 37 weeks ( 9 ). Although the study adjusts for tobacco smoke exposure, future studies should account for e-cigarette exposures, which contain more nanosized particles and may confound the relationship with ambient UFPs ( 16 ).…”

Move Over, Traffic: Aircraft Emissions and Preterm Birth

“…A recent study in Environmental Health Perspectives reports on the association between preterm birth and another source of air pollution—aircraft emissions. 4 …”