A study has found that air pollution may cause up to 6 million premature births

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Research has shown that air pollution is likely responsible for up to 6 million premature births and 3 million underweight babies worldwide each year.

The analysis, which combines the results of multiple scientific studies, is the first to calculate the total global burden of indoor and outdoor air pollution combined.

According to the latest findings, indoor pollution, mostly from cook stoves burning solid fuels such as coal or wood, accounted for nearly two-thirds of the overall pollution burden on load in 2019. This is particularly true in developing regions, as in some parts of southern East Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.

“At the individual level, exposure to indoor air pollution appears to carry a much higher burden compared to outdoor levels,” said Rakesh Ghosh, an epidemiologist at the University of California, San Francisco and lead author of the paper published in PLOS Medicine. “So minimizing exposure to household contamination, as much as possible, should be part of the message during prenatal care, particularly in settings where household contamination is common.”

Air pollution is usually measured according to exposure to particulate matter smaller than 2.5 microns: once inhaled, the small size of these particles allows them to be absorbed deep into the bloodstream, potentially causing far-reaching health problems.

More than 92% of the world’s population lives in areas where outdoor air quality is below the limits recommended by the World Health Organization, and about 49% are exposed to high levels of indoor air pollution.

Regions such as South and East Asia are the most polluted, with Bangladesh, China, India and Pakistan home to 49 of the 50 most polluted cities worldwide. In recent years, wildfires, agricultural fires and dust storms have also caused widespread air pollution.

The cost of air pollution to the global economy is estimated at more than $2.9 trillion each year, in addition to severe damage to public health.

For this study, Ghosh’s team examined 108 research papers on indoor and outdoor pollution in relation to four major pregnancy risks — gestational age at birth, low birth weight, low birth weight, and preterm birth — in 204 countries.

After controlling for risk factors such as pregnancy weight, smoking, alcohol use and nutrition, the researchers found that air pollution was the main cause of low birth weight and premature birth. The latter is the leading cause of death of 15 million newborns worldwide each year.

The findings build on previous research by Ghosh and colleagues, which estimated that air pollution contributed to the deaths of 500,000 newborns globally in 2019.

By reducing air pollution in Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, the study calculated that the number of premature babies and low-birth-weight babies could fall by nearly 78% globally.

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