�Living near city expressways is associated with contrary birth personal effects on anticipant mothers and their newborns, according to a novel study with global implications. In the August edition of the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, scientists from the Universite de Montreal and the University of South Australia reveal that women living closest to expressways are more vulnerable to highway pollution - especially affluent mothers.
"We establish a disproportionately high association between living close to a highway and birth complications among affluent mothers," said the study's lead author, Dr. M�lissa G�n�reux, who completed the research at the Universit� de Montr�al's Department of Social and Preventive Medicine. "Among affluent mothers who alive within 200 metres of a highway, the odds of delivering an baby with humbled birth weight increase by 81 per centum, while their odds of delivering a preterm baby increase by 58 per centum compared to mothers wHO don't live anywhere come together to expressways."
Using data from the Quebec birth register, the research team evaluated statistics from 100,000 new births recorded over a five-year span. The scientists concentrated on information from Canada's second biggest city, Montreal, where highways cut through affluent and poor neighbourhoods alike.
Wealthy women more vulnerable
The study was the offset to essay proximity to pollution as a reason for adverse effects on birth. And the scientists discovered that mothers living within 200 metres from major highways - specially women from higher socioeconomic neighbourhoods - were more likely to deliver preterm, low weight or littler babies.
"Advantaged mothers may be more susceptible to highway pollution, possibly because they have been protected from other hazards present in low income neighbourhoods," explained Dr. G�n�reux, who's too a occupier at Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital, a Universit� de Montr�al connected institution. "We found a disproportionately heights association 'tween living close to a highway and birth complications among affluent mothers."
Partners in research:
The paper, "Neighbourhood socioeconomic status, maternal education and adverse birth outcomes among mothers living near highways," was published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health and authored by M�lissa G�n�reux and Nathalie Auger of the Universit� de Montr�al, Marc Goneau of the Institut National de Sant� Publique du Qu�bec and Mark Daniel of the University of South Australia.
On the Web:
About the Universit� de Montr�al: http://www.umontreal.ca/english/index.htm.
About the Institut National de Sant� Publique du Qu�bec: http://www.inspq.qc.ca/english/default.asp?A=7.
About the University of South Australia: http://www.unisa.edu.au/.
About the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health: http://jech.bmj.com/.
Source: Sylvain-Jacques Desjardins
University of Montreal
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