Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Management, Faculty of Management, University of Haifa, Mount Carmel, Haifa 3498838, Israel.
School of Public Health, Faculty of Welfare and Health Sciences, University of Haifa, Mount Carmel, Haifa 3498838, Israel.
Environ Res. 2018 Aug;165:337-348. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2018.05.006. Epub 2018 May 25.
Low birth weight (LBW) is known to be associated with infant mortality and postnatal health complications. Previous studies revealed strong relationships between LBW rate and several socio-demographic factors, including ethnicity, maternal age, and family income. However, studies of association between LBW rate and environmental risk factors remain infrequent.
We retrieved a geo-referenced data set, containing 7216 individual records of children born in 2015 in the Haifa Bay Area in Israel. Using this dataset, we analysed factors affecting LBW prevalence by applying two alternative techniques: analysis of LBW rates in small census area (SCAs) and more recently developed double kernel density (DKD) relative risk (RR) estimates.
In the SCA models, LBW rate was found to be associated with proximity to petrochemical industries (B=-0.26, 95%CI=-0.30, -0.22), road density (B=0.05, 95%CI=0.02, 0.08), distance to the seashore (B=0.17, 95%CI=0.14, 0.22), PM (B=0.06, 95%CI=0.04, 0.09) and NO (B=0.10, 95%CI=0.06, 0.13) exposure estimates. Although similar factors emerged in the DKD models as well, in most cases, the effects of these factors in the latter models were found to be stronger: proximity to petrochemical industries (B=-0.48, 95%CI= -0.51, -0.30), road density (B=0.05, 95%CI=0.02, 0.08), distance to the seashore (B=0.24, 95%CI=0.21, 0.27), PM (B=0.08, 95%CI=0.05, 0.10) and NO (B=0.20, 95%CI=0.17, 0.23) exposure estimates. In addition, elevation above the sea level was found to be statistically significant in spatial dependence models estimated for both DKD and SCA rates (P < 0.01).
The analysis revealed an excess LBW rate in residential areas located close to petrochemical industries and a protective effect of seashore proximity and elevation above the sea level on the LBW rate. We attribute the latter finding to the moderating effect of elevated seashore locations on outdoor temperatures during the hot summer season.
低出生体重（LBW）与婴儿死亡率和产后健康并发症有关。先前的研究表明，LBW 率与包括种族、产妇年龄和家庭收入在内的几个社会人口因素之间存在很强的关系。然而，关于 LBW 率与环境风险因素之间关联的研究仍然很少。
我们检索了一个地理参考数据集，其中包含 2015 年在以色列海法湾地区出生的 7216 名儿童的个体记录。使用该数据集，我们通过应用两种替代技术来分析影响 LBW 患病率的因素：小普查区（SCA）的 LBW 率分析和最近开发的双核密度（DKD）相对风险（RR）估计。
在 SCA 模型中，LBW 率与靠近石化工业（B=-0.26，95%CI=-0.30，-0.22）、道路密度（B=0.05，95%CI=0.02，0.08）、距海岸线的距离（B=0.17，95%CI=0.14，0.22）、PM（B=0.06，95%CI=0.04，0.09）和 NO（B=0.10，95%CI=0.06，0.13）暴露估计有关。尽管 DKD 模型中也出现了类似的因素，但在大多数情况下，这些因素在后者模型中的影响更强：靠近石化工业（B=-0.48，95%CI=-0.51，-0.30）、道路密度（B=0.05，95%CI=0.02，0.08）、距海岸线的距离（B=0.24，95%CI=0.21，0.27）、PM（B=0.08，95%CI=0.05，0.10）和 NO（B=0.20，95%CI=0.17，0.23）暴露估计。此外，在为 DKD 和 SCA 率估计的空间相关性模型中，海拔高度高于海平面被发现具有统计学意义（P<0.01）。
分析结果显示，靠近石化工业的居民区 LBW 率过高，而靠近海滨和海拔高度高于海平面对 LBW 率有保护作用。我们将后者的发现归因于海滨位置在炎热的夏季对室外温度的调节作用。
