Prenatal Fine Particulate Matter Exposure Linked to Cerebral Palsy

FRIDAY, July 12, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Prenatal ambient fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) exposure is associated with an increased risk for cerebral palsy, according to a study published online July 9 in JAMA Network Open.

Yu Zhang, Ph.D., from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Heath in Boston, and colleagues examined the associations between prenatal residential exposure to ambient air pollution and the risk for CP among children born at term gestation in a population-based cohort study conducted in Ontario, Canada. Data were included for 1,587,935 mother-child pairs who reached term gestation; 3,170 (0.2 percent) children were diagnosed with CP.

The researchers found that the cumulative hazard ratio was 1.12 (95 percent confidence interval, 1.03 to 1.21) for CP in association with a per-interquartile range increase (2.7 µg/m³) in prenatal PM_2.5 concentration. The cumulative hazard ratio was higher for male than female infants (1.14 [95 percent CI, 1.02 to 1.26] versus 1.08 [95 percent CI, 0.96 to 1.22]). In the study population, there was no specific window of susceptibility noted for prenatal PM_2.5 exposure and CP. For prenatal nitrogen dioxide and ozone exposure, no associations or windows of susceptibility were found for CP risk.

“The findings of this large cohort study could advance the identification of existing environmental risk factors for CP development and better inform interventions to mitigate the potential risk of CP during fetus development,” the authors write. “Further studies are needed to validate the associations and explore potential modifiers.”

One author reported receiving personal fees from Pfizer.

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