Women living near roads more likely to have premature birth
December 3rd, 2010 - 2:23 pm ICT by IANSLondon, Dec 3 (IANS) Pregnant women who live near busy roads have a higher risk of delivering a premature baby compared to those residing in quieter areas, a study has pointed out.
Study author Takashi Yorifuji from Japan’s Okayama Graduate School of Medicine said air and noise pollution from the traffic could be blamed.
The Okayama team studied more than 14,000 babies born between 1997 and 2008 in Shizuoka, about 94 miles west of Tokyo, reports the journal Epidemiology.
They obtained detailed records on each pregnancy and how close to major roads the mothers lived, according to the Daily Mail.
They found 15 percent of women living within 650 ft of a major road gave birth before 37 weeks, compared to 10 percent of those living further away. A normal pregnancy is of 40 weeks.
Other factors like age, job, and smoking have been associated with pre-term birth as well. But even after accounting for those, the research team found a 50 percent increase in pre-term births among women living next to highly trafficked thoroughfares.
These women also had a higher risk of delivering before 32 and 28 weeks.
- 'Half of all child deaths in India due to pre-term births' - May 02, 2012
- Simple blood test can now predict premature birth risk - Apr 19, 2011
- Prepregnancy, obesity, gestational weight gain influence preterm birth risk - Feb 11, 2010
- New blood test will warn of premature births - Sep 06, 2011
- Rise in temperature can lead to stillbirths - Dec 16, 2011
- Late-preterm babies 'at greater risk for cognitive, emotional problems' - Nov 23, 2010
- Pregnancy stress can affect baby's iron status: Study - Apr 30, 2012
- Childhood hardships may lead to pregnancy troubles in adulthood - Jun 08, 2010
- Depression during pregnancy ups risk for preterm birth, low birth weight - Oct 05, 2010
- Major breakthrough in preventing premature birth - Apr 07, 2011
- IVF babies from frozen embryos healthier - Jan 09, 2012
- Babies born a week earlier at higher autism risk - Jun 10, 2010
- Caesarean could pose health risk to babies - Feb 10, 2012
- Gum-disease linked to preterm births - Sep 16, 2010
- Right medical care can cut risk for newborns in older mums - Dec 08, 2010
Tags: accounting, babies, births, daily mail, detailed records, graduate school, journal epidemiology, medicine, noise pollution, okayama, pregnancy, pregnant women, premature baby, premature birth, school of medicine, shizuoka, study author, takashi, thoroughfares, tokyo