Uncertainty in the Relationship between Criteria Pollutants and Low Birth Weight in Chicago.

ABSTRACT: Using the data on all live births (~400,000) and criteria pollutants from the Chicago Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) between 2000 and 2004, this paper empirically demonstrates how mismatches in the spatiotemporal scales of health and air pollution data can result in inconsistency and uncertainty in the linkages between air pollution and birth outcomes. This paper suggests that the risks of low birth weight associated with air pollution exposure changes significantly as the distance interval (around the monitoring stations) used for exposure estimation changes. For example, when the analysis was restricted within 3 miles distance of the monitoring stations the odds of LBW (births < 2500g) increased by a factor of 1.045 (±0.0285 95% CI) with a unit increase in the average daily exposure

SUBMITTER: Kumar N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3278077 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature