Associations between prenatal exposure to power plants and birth outcomes across the United States.

Autor: Schneider C; Boston College, School of Social Work, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA., Schuele H; Boston College, School of Social Work, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA., Baum CF; Boston College, School of Social Work, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA; Boston College, Department of Economics, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA; German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin), Department of Macroeconomics, Berlin, Germany., Landrigan PJ; Program for Global Public Health and the Common Good, Global Observatory on Pollution and Health, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA., Hawkins SS; Boston College, School of Social Work, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA. Electronic address: summer.hawkins@bc.edu.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Public health [Public Health] 2023 Mar; Vol. 216, pp. 30-32. Date of Electronic Publication: 2023 Feb 09.
DOI: 10.1016/j.puhe.2023.01.003
Abstrakt: Objectives: Although there is growing evidence that in utero exposure to power plants increases the risk of adverse birth outcomes, studies have focused on coal-fired plants and single US locations, limiting generalizability. We used birth certificate data from 50 states and DC to examine the associations between prenatal exposure to power plants and birth outcomes overall and by race/ethnicity.
Methods: We linked 2009-2018 county-level microdata natality files on 34,674,911 singleton births from 50 states and DC with 9-month county-level averages of power plant fuel consumption based on month/year of birth. We estimated linear regression models for birth weight and gestational age and probit models for the dichotomous outcomes of low birth weight, small for gestational age (SGA), and preterm birth. We subsequently examined interactions between plant fuel consumption and race/ethnicity.
Results: Overall, 69.1% of counties had any power plant fuel consumption. Although we found no overall effects of prenatal exposure to power plants on birth weight or SGA, a significant interaction (both P < 0.01) revealed that a 10% increase in fuel consumption was associated with infants born to White women having slightly lower birth weights (1.76 g; 95% confidence interval = -2.87, -0.65) and higher risk of being born SGA (0.0002; 95% confidence interval = 0.0002, 0.0002).
Conclusion: Power plants have negative effects on infant health, which exist independent of locality.
(Copyright © 2023 The Royal Society for Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
Externí odkaz: