First Trimester of Pregnancy as the Sensitive Period for the Association between Prenatal Mosquito Coil Smoke Exposure and Preterm Birth

Xin-Chen Liu; Esben Strodl; Li-Hua Huang; Qing Lu; Yang Liang; Wei-Qing Chen

doi:10.3390/ijerph191811771

First Trimester of Pregnancy as the Sensitive Period for the Association between Prenatal Mosquito Coil Smoke Exposure and Preterm Birth

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Sep 18;19(18):11771. doi: 10.3390/ijerph191811771.

Authors

Xin-Chen Liu¹, Esben Strodl², Li-Hua Huang¹, Qing Lu¹, Yang Liang¹, Wei-Qing Chen^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510080, China.
² School of Psychology and Counselling, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD 4000, Australia.
³ School of Health, Xinhua College of Guangzhou, Guangzhou 510080, China.

Abstract

Mosquito coils are efficient mosquito repellents and mosquito coil smoke (MCS) contributes to indoor air pollution. However, no prior population-based study has investigated whether prenatal MCS exposure is a risk factor for preterm birth (PTB) and whether exposure to MCS in different trimesters of pregnancy is associated with different levels of risk. The sample involved 66,503 mother-child dyads. Logistic regression models were used to examine the relationships between prenatal MCS exposure during different trimesters of pregnancy and PTB. We found that prenatal MCS exposure was associated with a greater likelihood of PTB (OR = 1.12, 95%CI: 1.05-1.20). The prenatal MCS exposure during the first trimester was associated with 1.17 (95%CI: 1.09-1.25) times the odds of being PTB, which was higher than exposure during the second trimester (OR = 1.11, 95%CI: 1.03-1.19) and during the third trimester (OR = 1.08, 95%CI: 1.01-1.16). In the stratified analysis, prenatal MCS exposure significantly increased PTB risk among girls but not among boys. Our results indicated that maternal MCS exposure during pregnancy was associated with PTB and that the first trimester might be the sensitive period. In light of these findings, public health interventions are needed to reduce prenatal exposure to MCS, particularly during the first trimester of pregnancy.

Keywords: child sex; mosquito coil smoke; prenatal exposure; preterm birth; sensitive period.

Publication types

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

MeSH terms

Air Pollutants* / analysis
Air Pollution* / analysis
Female
Humans
Infant, Newborn
Insecticides* / analysis
Male
Maternal Exposure / adverse effects
Particulate Matter / analysis
Pregnancy
Pregnancy Trimester, First
Premature Birth* / epidemiology
Premature Birth* / etiology
Smoke / analysis

Substances

Air Pollutants
Insecticides
Particulate Matter
Smoke

Grants and funding

This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 81973143), and by the Government of Longhua District, Shenzhen, China (Longhua STE Fund) (Grant No. 2013142).