Association between maternal exposure to air pollution before conception and sex determination in the city of Sao Paulo

Author(s)

Carvalho, Mariana Azevedo ^[1] ; Hettfleisch, Karen ^[1] ; Rodrigues, Agatha S. ^{[1, 2]} ; Benachi, Alexandra ^[3] ; Vieira, Sandra Elisabete ^[4] ; Saldiva, Silvia R. D. M. ^[5] ; Saldiva, Paulo Hilario N. ^[6] ; Vieira Francisco, Rossana Pulcineli ^[1] ; Bernardes, Lisandra Stein ^[1]

Affiliation

^[1] Univ Sao Paulo, Fac Med FMUSP, Av Dr Eneas de Carvalho Aguiar, BR-05403900 Sao Paulo, SP - Brazil

^[2] Univ Fed Espirito Santo, Dept Stat, Vitoria, ES - Brazil

^[3] Antoine Beclere Hosp, AP HP, Dept Ob GYN & Reprod Med, F-92141 Clamart - France

^[4] Univ Sao Paulo, Dept Pediat, Med Sch, 255 Av Dr Eneas de Carvalho Aguiar, Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[5] Hlth Inst, 590 Rua Santo Antonio, Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[6] Univ Sao Paulo, Inst Adv Studies, 455 Av Dr Arnaldo, Sao Paulo - Brazil

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: AIR QUALITY ATMOSPHERE AND HEALTH; v. 13, n. 10 JUL 2020.
• Web of Science Citations: 0

Abstract

It has been widely demonstrated that air pollution can affect human health and that some pollutant gases can have negative impacts on female fertility rates and cause adverse obstetric outcomes, such as premature birth and low birth weight. Few studies have evaluated the impact of maternal exposure to urban air pollution on the number of female births. To evaluate the association between maternal exposure to air pollution during the year before conception and sex determination. This was a prospective study using low-risk pregnant women living in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The pollutants were measured by a fixed station during a 1-year period before conception. Sex was confirmed after birth. We used multiple logistic regression models to evaluate the association between the pollutants and the sex determination and to estimate the odds ratio (OR) and the 95% confidence interval (CI) of being female based on a quantitative increase in pollutant concentration. We evaluated 371 patients. Elevated exposure to nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and particulate matter lower than 10 mu m (PM10) prior to conception were associated with increased odds of being female. Each unit increase of NO(2)exposure increased the odds of being female by 8% (OR = 1.08, 95% CI = 1.02, 1.15,p = 0.008), and each unit increase of PM(10)increased the odds of being female by 14% (OR = 1.14, 95% CI 1.02 to 1.28,p = 0.021). In Sao Paulo, maternal exposure to pollutants was significantly associated with the odds of being female. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 08/57717-6 - National Institute for Integrated Analysis of Environmental Risk
• Grantee: Thais Mauad
• Support Opportunities: Research Projects - Thematic Grants
• FAPESP's process: 16/14433-4 - Associations of maternal exposure to air pollution on birth outcomes: a prospective cohort study
• Grantee: Mariana Azevedo Carvalho
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate