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

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 43 of the 45 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

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, Ohman-Strickland, Pamela, Woodruff, Tracey J., Duan, Xiaoli, Assibey-Mensah, Vanessa, Zhang, Junfeng·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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Figures

Figure 1 Distributions of daily mean SO2, NO2, and PM10 concentrations across Beijing from 8 August to 24 September 2007, 2008, and 2009. Boxes extend from the 25th to the 75th percentile, horizontal bars represent the median, whiskers indicate the 5th and 95th percentiles, squares indicate the mean, and circles represent outliers.
Figure 1 Distributions of daily mean SO2, NO2, and PM10 concentrations across Beijing from 8 August to 24 September 2007, 2008, and 2009. Boxes extend from the 25th to the 75th percentile, horizontal bars represent the median, whiskers indicate the 5th and 95th percentiles, squares indicate the mean, and circles represent outliers.CC0 · PubMed Central
Figure 2 Plots of sorted birth weight residuals for births with the 8th month of pregnancy from 8 August to 24 September versus sorted expected values from a normal distribution with the same mean and variance (Q-Q plots) in (A) 2007, (B) 2008, or (C) 2009.
Figure 2 Plots of sorted birth weight residuals for births with the 8th month of pregnancy from 8 August to 24 September versus sorted expected values from a normal distribution with the same mean and variance (Q-Q plots) in (A) 2007, (B) 2008, or (C) 2009.CC0 · PubMed Central
Figure 3 Change in birth weight (g) (95% CI) among term births, associated with each interquartile range (IQR) increase in mean pollutant concentration during a specified month of pregnancy (2 June 2008 to 30 October 2008). All models included indicator variables for gestational age (complete weeks) at delivery, residential district, maternal education (bachelor’s degree, some college or technical school, high school or less), linear terms for the mean temperature and relative humidity levels during the 8th month of pregnancy, and a smooth term for maternal age (smoothing spline with 4 degrees of freedom).
Figure 3 Change in birth weight (g) (95% CI) among term births, associated with each interquartile range (IQR) increase in mean pollutant concentration during a specified month of pregnancy (2 June 2008 to 30 October 2008). All models included indicator variables for gestational age (complete weeks) at delivery, residential district, maternal education (bachelor’s degree, some college or technical school, high school or less), linear terms for the mean temperature and relative humidity levels during the 8th month of pregnancy, and a smooth term for maternal age (smoothing spline with 4 degrees of freedom).CC0 · PubMed Central

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Metadata

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
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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