Associations among prenatal PM2.5, birth weight, and renal function

Guilan Xie; Ruiqi Wang; Wenfang Yang; Landi Sun; Mengmeng Xu; Boxing Zhang; Liren Yang; Li Shang; Cuifang Qi; Mei Chun Chung

doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.134668

Associations among prenatal PM_2.5, birth weight, and renal function

Chemosphere. 2022 Aug:301:134668. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.134668. Epub 2022 Apr 20.

Authors

Guilan Xie¹, Ruiqi Wang¹, Wenfang Yang², Landi Sun¹, Mengmeng Xu³, Boxing Zhang¹, Liren Yang¹, Li Shang¹, Cuifang Qi³, Mei Chun Chung⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Maternal & Child Health Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, People's Republic of China; School of Public Health, Xi'an Jiaotong University Health Science Center, Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, People's Republic of China.
² Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Maternal & Child Health Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, People's Republic of China. Electronic address: wenfang.yang@xjtu.edu.cn.
³ Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Maternal & Child Health Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, People's Republic of China.
⁴ Division of Nutrition Epidemiology and Data Science, Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts University, Massachusetts Boston, USA.

PMID: 35460673
DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.134668

Abstract

Background: Low birth weight has long-term health effects, including neurodevelopmental delays, cardiovascular diseases, and type 2 diabetes, through epigenetic changes and modifications. Numerous studies have identified that PM_2.5 is associated with low birth weight. However, the association between PM_2.5 and renal function, as well as the mediated effect of renal function on the association between prenatal PM_2.5 and birth weight are still under-recognized.

Methods: A total of 8969 singleton live births born in 2015-2019 were included in this study. The inverse distance weighting method was applied to interpolate and calculate the average exposure to PM_2.5 during pregnancy for each pregnant woman. The multiple linear regression model was used to shed light on the associations among prenatal PM_2.5, birth weight, and renal function. In addition, the mediation analysis was performed to figure out the mediated effect of renal function on the association between prenatal PM_2.5 and birth weight, and the proportion of mediated effect = (indirect effect/total effect) × 100%.

Results: Per 10 μg/m³ increment of prenatal PM_2.5 was associated with 8.98 g (95% CI: -16.94 to -1.02) decrease of birth weight, 0.49 (95% CI: -0.73 to -0.26) ml/min/1.73 m² decrease of glomerular filtration rate (GFR), 0.03 (95% CI: 0.01-0.05) mmol/L increase of blood urea nitrogen (BUN), and 2.29 (95% CI: 0.86-3.72) μmol/L increase of uric acid (UA) after adjusting for the sociodemographic covariates, disease-related covariates and meteorological factors. Besides, the mediated effects of GFR and BUN on the association between prenatal PM_2.5 and birth weight were 5.02% and 14.96%, but there was no significant mediated effect being identified in UA.

Conclusion: Prenatal PM_2.5 is related to reduced birth weight and impaired renal function. Renal function plays a partial role in the association between prenatal PM_2.5 and birth weight. Appropriate guidelines should be formulated by the concerned authorities, and adequate efforts should be made to mitigate the detrimental health effects of PM_2.5.

Keywords: Birth weight; Mediated effect; PM(2.5); Renal function.

MeSH terms

Air Pollutants* / analysis
Air Pollutants* / toxicity
Air Pollution* / analysis
Birth Weight
Child
Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2*
Female
Humans
Kidney / chemistry
Kidney / physiology
Maternal Exposure / adverse effects
Nitrogen
Particulate Matter / analysis
Pregnancy
Uric Acid
Vitamins

Substances

Air Pollutants
Particulate Matter
Vitamins
Uric Acid
Nitrogen