LOS ANGELES, Aug. 27 (UPI) -- Pregnant women who lived in Los Angeles near areas with high air pollution levels were up to 25 percent more likely to have a preterm baby.
Dr. Beate Ritz of the University of California at Los Angeles School of Public Health and colleagues Michelle Wilhelm, Katherine J. Hoggatt and Jo Kay C. Ghosh collected detailed information on more than 2,500 women who gave birth in 2003.
Through personal interviews, the researchers were able to determine the risks due to air pollution separate from other risk factors, such as smoking, exposure to secondhand smoke and alcohol use.
The study, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, found women who lived in regions with high carbon monoxide or fine-particle levels -- pollution caused mainly by vehicle traffic -- were approximately 10 percent to 25 percent more likely to have a preterm baby than Los Angeles women who lived in less polluted areas.
Copyright 2007 by United Press International. All Rights Reserved.
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