Maternal proximity to petrochemical industrial parks and risk of premature rupture of membranes

Ching-Chun Huang; Shih-Chun Pan; Wei-Shan Chin; Yu-Cheng Chen; Chin-Yu Hsu; Pinpin Lin; Yue Leon Guo

doi:10.1016/j.envres.2020.110688

Maternal proximity to petrochemical industrial parks and risk of premature rupture of membranes

Environ Res. 2021 Mar:194:110688. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2020.110688. Epub 2020 Dec 29.

Authors

Ching-Chun Huang¹, Shih-Chun Pan², Wei-Shan Chin³, Yu-Cheng Chen², Chin-Yu Hsu⁴, Pinpin Lin², Yue Leon Guo⁵

Affiliations

¹ Environmental and Occupational Medicine, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University and National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
² National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Health Research Institutes, Miaoli, Taiwan.
³ School of Nursing, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁴ Department of Safety, Health and Environmental Engineering, Ming Chi University of Technology, New Taipei City, Taiwan; Center for Environmental Sustainability and Human Health, Ming Chi University of Technology, New Taipei City, Taiwan.
⁵ Environmental and Occupational Medicine, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University and National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan; National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Health Research Institutes, Miaoli, Taiwan; Institute of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, College of Public Health, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan. Electronic address: leonguo@ntu.edu.tw.

PMID: 33385393
DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2020.110688

Abstract

Background: Living near petrochemical industries has been reported to increase the risks of adverse birth outcomes, such as low birth weight and preterm delivery. However, evidence regarding the role of petrochemical exposure in pregnancy complications remains limited. This study evaluated the association between maternal proximity to petrochemical industrial parks (PIPs) during pregnancy and the occurrence of premature rupture of membranes (PROM).

Methods: We performed a population-based 1:3 case-control study by using the 2004-2014 Taiwanese Birth Certificate Database. Birth records reported as stillbirth or bearing congenital anomalies were excluded. Cases were newborns reported to have PROM, whereas controls were randomly sampled from those without any pregnancy complications by matching birth year and urbanization index of the residential township. The proximity to PIPs was evaluated by calculating the distance to the nearest PIP of the maternal residential township during pregnancy. Furthermore, petrochemical exposure opportunity, accounting for monthly prevailing wind direction, was quantified during the entire gestational period. We applied conditional logistic regression models to evaluate the associations.

Results: In total, 29371 PROM cases were reported during the study period, with a corresponding 88113 healthy controls sampled. The results revealed that living within a 3-km radius of PIPs during pregnancy would increase the risk of PROM (odds ratio [OR] = 1.76, 95% CI: 1.66-1.87). Furthermore, compared with the lowest exposed group, those with high petrochemical exposure opportunity had a significantly increased risk of PROM occurrence (OR = 1.69-1.75). The adverse effects remained robust in the subgroup analysis for both term- and preterm-PROM.

Conclusions: The results of the present work provide evidence that living near PIPs during pregnancy would increase the risk of PROM, and additional studies are warranted to confirm our findings.

Keywords: Geographic information system; Petrochemical industry; Pregnancy; Premature rupture of membranes.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Case-Control Studies
Female
Fetal Membranes, Premature Rupture* / chemically induced
Fetal Membranes, Premature Rupture* / epidemiology
Humans
Infant, Low Birth Weight
Infant, Newborn
Odds Ratio
Pregnancy
Premature Birth* / chemically induced
Premature Birth* / epidemiology