Where You Live Affects Your Birth

Posted by Brenda Lane Sep 5, 2008

If you live near a major highway, have you ever wondered how it may affect your pregnancy? Well, new research from Quebec published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health studied whether living close to a highway might interact with both socioeconomic status and education level to affect birth outcomes.

The study population came from all live births registered in Montreal for a 4 year period from 1997 to 2001. They found that among all the mothers who live within 200 meters of a major highway, they were 14% more likely to have a pre-term birth and 17% more likely to have a low birth weight baby in comparison to mothers living farther away.

Researchers also discovered that among affluent women living within a 200 meter proximity to a major highway, the risk of pre-term birth was 58% greater as well as a 81% increase in having a low birthweight baby and a 32% increase in a small-for-gestational-age baby as compared to mothers from other socioeconomic categories.

No one really knows why wealthier mothers would be at greater risk from exposure to highway pollution. One possible explanation is that lesser affluent mothers are often exposed to additional factors such as secondary smoking, poor nutrition and even domestic violence so that the exposure from highway polution may not be as great.

Brenda