Association between ambient air pollutants and preterm birth in Ningbo, China: a time-series study

Exposure to air pollutants has been related to preterm birth, but little evidence can be available for PM_2.5, O₃ and CO in China. This study aimed to investigate the short-term effect of exposure to air pollutants on risk preterm birth during 2014–2016 in Ningbo, China.

We conducted a time-series study to evaluate the associations between daily preterm birth and major air pollutants (including PM_2.5, PM₁₀, SO₂, NO₂, O₃ and CO) in Ningbo during 2014–2016. A General Additive Model extend Poisson regression was used to evaluate the relationship between preterm birth and air pollution with adjustment for time-trend, meteorological factors and day of the week (DOW). We also conducted a subgroup analysis by season and age.

In this study, a total of 37,389 birth occurred between 2014 and 2016 from the Electronic Medical Records System of Ningbo Women and Children’s Hospital, of which 5428 were verified as preterm birth. The single pollutant model suggested that lag effect of PM_2.5, PM₁₀, NO₂ reached a peak at day 3 before delivery and day 6 for SO₂, and no relationships were observed for O₃ and preterm birth. Excess risks (95% confidence intervals) for an increase of IQR of air pollutant concentrations were 4.84 (95% CI: 1.77, 8.00) for PM_2.5, 3.56 (95% CI: 0.07, 7.17) for PM₁₀, 3.65 (95% CI: 0.86, 6.51) for SO₂, 6.49 (95% CI: 1.86, 11.34) for NO₂, − 0.90 (95% CI: -4.76, 3.11) for O₃, and 3.36 (95% CI: 0.50, 6.30) for CO. Sensitivity analyses by exclusion of maternal age < 18 or > 35 years did not materially alter our results.

This study indicates that short-term exposure to air pollutants (including PM_2.5, PM₁₀, SO₂, NO₂) are positively associated with risk of preterm birth in Ningbo, China.