Air pollution causes 3.5 lakh pregnancy lossed per year in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh
The Weather Channel :
Breathing polluted air has been scientifically proven to have an immense negative impact on the human body, including severe respiratory diseases, cardiovascular complications, stroke, and cognitive disorders. Now, an alarming new study has outlined the extent of another dreaded impact of the menace of air pollution in South Asia.
The new comprehensive study has suggested that consistent exposure to poor air quality is likely to increase the risk of pregnancy loss by several magnitudes. The research indicates that women living in South Asian countries like India, Pakistan and Bangladesh are particularly at a higher risk of stillbirths and miscarriages due to the increasing pollution levels.
The research revealed that between 2000 to 2016, a whopping 349,681 pregnancy loss cases per year in South Asia were attributable to the ambient air pollution levels exceeding India’s air quality standard of 40 units. The startling number accounts for around 7.1% of total annual pregnancy loss burden in the region.
The first-of-a-kind study specifically dwells into the link between air pollution and pregnancy loss in South Asia, one of the most populated, highly polluted regions in the world which also accounts for high pregnancy loss rate. The authors of the study evaluated data from 1998 to 2016, which mainly consisted of information from various household surveys on health where women reported at least one pregnancy loss and one or more live births.
The study is led by Dr Tao Xue from Peking University in China. “South Asia has the highest burden of pregnancy loss globally and is one of the most PM2.5 polluted regions in the world. Our findings suggest that poor air quality could be responsible for a considerable burden of pregnancy loss in the region, providing further justification for urgent action to tackle dangerous levels of pollution,” explains Dr Xue in a statement.
For the study, the researchers assessed data for 34,197 women with pregnancy losses, while out of these 27,480 had miscarriages and 6,717 were stillbirths cases. Out of these, the highest number of pregnancy loss cases originated from India at 77%, while Pakistan and Bangladesh accounted for 12% and 11%, respectively.
Earlier, studies have shown that air pollution is linked to more than 16 lakh premature deaths in India in a year.
The team estimated exposure to PM2.5 during pregnancy by combining satellite-derived information with atmospheric modelling outputs. PM2.5 refers to fine particulate matter whose width is around 20-30 times smaller than that of a human hair. Using the data from 18 years span, a model was designed to calculate how exposure to PM2.5 increased pregnancy loss.
The study also highlighted that high exposure to PM2.5 during the gestational period increased the chances of pregnancy loss significantly, compared to any other environmental factors like maternal age, temperature and humidity, seasonal variation, and long-term trends in pregnancy loss. In particular, researchers analysed the impact of exposure to an increase in PM2.5 by every 10 units. The results show that each exposure to the rise of 10 units led to an increase in the chances of pregnancy loss by 3%.
This risk was found to be more for mothers living in rural parts and those who became pregnant at an older age when compared to younger mothers from urban areas. The results concluded that the total burden of pregnancy loss was predominantly borne by rural women aged under 30 years old in recent years, reveals the study. In rural areas, high indoor pollution due to the use of biofuels for cooking has been a cause of concern across South Asia for several decades.
While the 7% of pregnancy losses were attributable to air pollution by considering Indian standards of 40 units, nearly 30% of them were linked to pollution if the World Health Organisation (WHO) standards of 10 units are considered. Therefore, this figure could go up to nearly 15 lakh pregnancy losses per year in South Asia if exposure to PM2.5 above 10 units is taken into account.
The study indicated that the pregnancy loss associated with air pollution was high in the Northern plains region in India and Pakistan. The main objective of the study published in the journal The Lancet Planetary Health was to understand several risk factors associated with pregnancy loss in south Asia, in order to improve maternal health at levels both regionally and globally.
Dr Tianjia Guan, a co-author of the study from the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing China, said: “We know losing a pregnancy can have knock-on mental, physical and economic effects on women, including increased risk of postnatal depressive disorders, infant mortality during a subsequent pregnancy and increase the costs related to pregnancy, such as loss of labour. Therefore, reducing pregnancy loss may also lead to knock-on improvements in gender equality.”
Breathing polluted air has been scientifically proven to have an immense negative impact on the human body, including severe respiratory diseases, cardiovascular complications, stroke, and cognitive disorders. Now, an alarming new study has outlined the extent of another dreaded impact of the menace of air pollution in South Asia.
The new comprehensive study has suggested that consistent exposure to poor air quality is likely to increase the risk of pregnancy loss by several magnitudes. The research indicates that women living in South Asian countries like India, Pakistan and Bangladesh are particularly at a higher risk of stillbirths and miscarriages due to the increasing pollution levels.
The research revealed that between 2000 to 2016, a whopping 349,681 pregnancy loss cases per year in South Asia were attributable to the ambient air pollution levels exceeding India’s air quality standard of 40 units. The startling number accounts for around 7.1% of total annual pregnancy loss burden in the region.
The first-of-a-kind study specifically dwells into the link between air pollution and pregnancy loss in South Asia, one of the most populated, highly polluted regions in the world which also accounts for high pregnancy loss rate. The authors of the study evaluated data from 1998 to 2016, which mainly consisted of information from various household surveys on health where women reported at least one pregnancy loss and one or more live births.
The study is led by Dr Tao Xue from Peking University in China. “South Asia has the highest burden of pregnancy loss globally and is one of the most PM2.5 polluted regions in the world. Our findings suggest that poor air quality could be responsible for a considerable burden of pregnancy loss in the region, providing further justification for urgent action to tackle dangerous levels of pollution,” explains Dr Xue in a statement.
For the study, the researchers assessed data for 34,197 women with pregnancy losses, while out of these 27,480 had miscarriages and 6,717 were stillbirths cases. Out of these, the highest number of pregnancy loss cases originated from India at 77%, while Pakistan and Bangladesh accounted for 12% and 11%, respectively.
Earlier, studies have shown that air pollution is linked to more than 16 lakh premature deaths in India in a year.
The team estimated exposure to PM2.5 during pregnancy by combining satellite-derived information with atmospheric modelling outputs. PM2.5 refers to fine particulate matter whose width is around 20-30 times smaller than that of a human hair. Using the data from 18 years span, a model was designed to calculate how exposure to PM2.5 increased pregnancy loss.
The study also highlighted that high exposure to PM2.5 during the gestational period increased the chances of pregnancy loss significantly, compared to any other environmental factors like maternal age, temperature and humidity, seasonal variation, and long-term trends in pregnancy loss. In particular, researchers analysed the impact of exposure to an increase in PM2.5 by every 10 units. The results show that each exposure to the rise of 10 units led to an increase in the chances of pregnancy loss by 3%.
This risk was found to be more for mothers living in rural parts and those who became pregnant at an older age when compared to younger mothers from urban areas. The results concluded that the total burden of pregnancy loss was predominantly borne by rural women aged under 30 years old in recent years, reveals the study. In rural areas, high indoor pollution due to the use of biofuels for cooking has been a cause of concern across South Asia for several decades.
While the 7% of pregnancy losses were attributable to air pollution by considering Indian standards of 40 units, nearly 30% of them were linked to pollution if the World Health Organisation (WHO) standards of 10 units are considered. Therefore, this figure could go up to nearly 15 lakh pregnancy losses per year in South Asia if exposure to PM2.5 above 10 units is taken into account.
The study indicated that the pregnancy loss associated with air pollution was high in the Northern plains region in India and Pakistan. The main objective of the study published in the journal The Lancet Planetary Health was to understand several risk factors associated with pregnancy loss in south Asia, in order to improve maternal health at levels both regionally and globally.
Dr Tianjia Guan, a co-author of the study from the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing China, said: “We know losing a pregnancy can have knock-on mental, physical and economic effects on women, including increased risk of postnatal depressive disorders, infant mortality during a subsequent pregnancy and increase the costs related to pregnancy, such as loss of labour. Therefore, reducing pregnancy loss may also lead to knock-on improvements in gender equality.”
