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Cited by 175Air Quality and Health ImpactsBirth, Development, and HealthEnvironmental Justice and Health Disparities

Differences in Birth Weight Associated with the 2008 Beijing Olympics Air Pollution Reduction: Results from a Natural Experiment

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Rich, David Q., Liu, Kaibo, Zhang, Jinliang, Thurston, Sally W., Stevens, Timothy P., Pan, Ying, Kane, Cathleen, Weinberger, Barry +5 more·2015·Environmental Health Perspectives
DOI 10.1289/ehp.1408795PMC PMC4559955
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Abstract

Background: Previous studies have reported decreased birth weight associated with increased air pollutant concentrations during pregnancy. However, it is not clear when during pregnancy increases in air pollution are associated with the largest differences in birth weight. Objectives: Using the natural experiment of air pollution declines during the 2008 Beijing Olympics, we evaluated whether having specific months of pregnancy (i.e., 1st…8th) during the 2008 Olympics period was associated with larger birth weights, compared with pregnancies during the same dates in 2007 or 2009. Methods: Using n = 83,672 term births to mothers residing in four urban districts of Beijing, we estimated the difference in birth weight associated with having individual months of pregnancy during the 2008 Olympics (8 August–24 September 2008) compared with the same dates in 2007 and 2009. We also estimated the difference in birth weight associated with interquartile range (IQR) increases in mean ambient particulate matter ≤ 2.5 μm in aerodynamic diameter (PM2.5), sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and carbon monoxide (CO) concentrations during each pregnancy month. Results: Babies whose 8th month of gestation occurred during the 2008 Olympics were, on average, 23 g larger (95% CI: 5 g, 40 g) than babies whose 8th month occurred during the same calendar dates in 2007 or 2009. IQR increases in PM2.5 (19.8 μg/m3), CO (0.3 ppm), SO2 (1.8 ppb), and NO2 (13.6 ppb) concentrations during the 8th month of pregnancy were associated with 18 g (95% CI: –32 g, –3 g), 17 g (95% CI: –28 g, –6 g), 23 g (95% CI: –36 g, –10 g), and 34 g (95% CI: –70 g, 3 g) decreases in birth weight, respectively. We did not see significant associations for months 1–7. Conclusions: Short-term decreases in air pollution late in pregnancy in Beijing during the 2008 Summer Olympics, a normally heavily polluted city, were associated with higher birth weight. Citation: Rich DQ, Liu K, Zhang J, Thurston SW, Stevens TP, Pan Y, Kane C, Weinberger B, Ohman-Strickland P, Woodruff TJ, Duan X, Assibey-Mensah V, Zhang J. 2015. Differences in birth weight associated with the 2008 Beijing Olympics air pollution reduction: results from a natural experiment. Environ Health Perspect 123:880–887; http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1408795

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  • Infants whose 8th month of gestation occurred during the 2008 Beijing Olympics, when air pollution levels drastically decreased, were born 23 g heavier on average compared to infants whose 8th month occurred over the same dates the year prior (2007) or after (2009).

    “In an observational natural experiment, infants whose 8th month of gestation occurred during the 2008 Beijing Olympics, when air pollution levels drastically deceased, were born 23 g heavier on average compared to infants whose 8th month occurred over the same dates the year prior (2007) or after (2009) [16].”

    From Air pollution and children’s health—a review of adverse effects associated with prenatal exposure from fine to ultrafine particulate matter (2021) · cites this paper as [16]

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Authors
Rich, D. Q., Liu, K., Zhang, J., Thurston, S. W., Stevens, T. P., Pan, Y., Kane, C., Weinberger, B., Ohman-Strickland, P., Woodruff, T. J., Duan, X., Assibey-Mensah, V., & Zhang, J.
Affiliations
  • University of Rochester Medicine (US)
  • Capital Medical University (CN)
  • Duke University (US)
  • Department of Biostatistics and Computational Biology, and
  • Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (US)
  • Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey, USA
  • University of California, San Francisco (US)
  • Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences (CN)
  • Department of Public Health Sciences, School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, USA
Corresponding author
Rich, David Q.
ORCID
Venue
Environmental Health Perspectives
Publisher
American Chemical Society (ACS)
Published
2015-04-28
Volume
123
Issue
9
Pages
880-887
ISSN
  • 0091-6765 (ISSN-L)
  • 1552-9924
DOI
10.1289/ehp.1408795
PMC
PMC4559955
OpenAlex
W1992296920
Cited by
174
References
45
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 13 · 2022: 21 · 2021: 24 · 2020: 13 · 2019: 23 · 2018: 16 · 2017: 24 · 2016: 14 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 1
FWCI
12.13
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Environmental Health Perspectives (publishedVersion, public-domain)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, public-domain)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, public-domain)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • National Institutes of Health (7r01es015864-04)
  • National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (R01-ES019165-01, R01-ES015864, R01ES019165, P30ES001247)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis › Air Quality and Health Impacts
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Birth, Development, and Health
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Environmental Justice and Health Disparities
Keywords
birth weight, air pollution, 2008 Beijing Olympics, air pollution reduction, late pregnancy, PM2.5, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, prenatal exposure, term birth
MeSH terms
Beijing, Air Pollutants, Air Pollution, Birth Weight, Carbon Monoxide, Environmental Exposure, Female, Humans, Infant, Newborn, Male, Nitrogen Dioxide, Pregnancy, Sulfur Dioxide, Maternal Exposure, Particulate Matter

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