J Prev Med Public Health.  2004 Nov;37(4):300-305.

Prenatal Exposure to PM10 and Preterm Birth between 1998 and 2000 in Seoul, Korea

• Ha EH
• Lee BE
• Park HS
• Kim YS
• Kim H
• Kim YJ
• Hong YC
• Park EA

Abstract

OBJECTIVES
The exposure to particulate air pollution during the pregnancy has reported to result in adverse pregnancy outcome such as low birth weight, preterm birth, still birth, and intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR). We aim to assess whether prenatal exposure of particulate matter less than 10 (m in diameter (PM10) is associated with preterm birth in Seoul, South Korea. METHODS: We included 382, 100 women who delivered a singleton at 25-42 weeks of gestation between 1998 and 2000. We calculated the average PM10 exposures for each trimester period and month of pregnancy, from the first to the ninth months, based on the birth date and gestational age. We used three different models to evaluate the effect of air pollution on preterm birth; the logistic regression model, the generalized additive logistic regression model, and the proportional hazard model. RESULTS: The monthly analysis using logistic regression model suggested that the risks of preterm birth increase with PM10 exposure between the sixth and ninth months of pregnancy and the highest risk was observed in the seventh month (adjusted odds ratio=1.07, 95% CI=1.01- 1.14). We also found the similar results using generalized additive model. In the proportional hazard model, the adjusted odds ratio for preterm births due to PM10 exposure of third trimester was 1.04 (95% CI=0.96-1.13) and PM10 exposure between the seventh month and ninth months of pregnancy was associated with the preterm births. CONCLUSIONS: We found that there were consistent results when we applied the three different models. These findings suggest that air pollution exposure during the third trimester pregnancy has an adverse effect on preterm birth in South Korea.

Keyword

Air pollution; Preterm birth; PM10 (Particulate matter)

MeSH Terms

Air Pollution
Female
Fetal Growth Retardation
Gestational Age
Humans
Infant, Low Birth Weight
Infant, Newborn
Korea*
Logistic Models
Odds Ratio
Particulate Matter
Parturition
Pregnancy
Pregnancy Outcome
Pregnancy Trimester, Third
Premature Birth*
Proportional Hazards Models
Seoul*
Particulate Matter