Drago Gaspare, Ruggieri Silvia, Bianchi Fabrizio, Sampino Silvestre, Cibella Fabio
National Research Council of Italy, Institute for Biomedical Research and Innovation, Palermo, Italy.
National Research Council of Italy, Institute of Clinical Physiology, Pisa, Italy.
Front Public Health. 2020 Apr 28;8:125. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2020.00125. eCollection 2020.
Industrial areas are characterized by the dispersion of environmental stressors that could possibly have long-term detrimental effects on both human health and the environment. Environmental contamination has been indicated to be one of the major risks for reproductive health. In this context, the effects of environmental pollution on pregnant women living in heavily polluted areas is of special interest. In fact, fetal development is a crucial phase due to the dynamic interaction between the maternal/external environments and the developing organs and tissues. Moreover, following Barker's postulate of the intrauterine origin of health and disease, the events occurring in this time window could affect future health. Birth cohorts provide the most suitable design for assessing the association between early-life and possible long-term health outcomes in highly contaminated sites. By providing an assessment of the early life environment throughout the collection of biological samples, birth cohorts offer the opportunity to study in-depth several possible confounders and outcomes by means of questionnaires and follow-ups based on clinical evaluations and bio-specimen samplings. The exposome comprises the totality of exposures from conception onwards; the birth cohort approach allows the integration of the exposures as a whole, including those related to socioeconomic status, with "omics" data from biological samples collected at birth and throughout life. In the characterization of the "fetal exposome," the placenta represents a highly informative and scarcely considered organ. For this purpose, the "Neonatal Environment and Health Outcomes" (NEHO) birth cohort has been established by enrolling pregnant women residing in contaminated sites and in surrounding areas.
工业区的特点是环境压力源分散，这些压力源可能对人类健康和环境产生长期有害影响。环境污染已被指出是生殖健康的主要风险之一。在这种背景下，环境污染对生活在重度污染地区的孕妇的影响尤其令人关注。事实上，由于母体/外部环境与发育中的器官和组织之间的动态相互作用，胎儿发育是一个关键阶段。此外，根据巴克提出的健康与疾病的宫内起源假说，这个时间窗口内发生的事件可能会影响未来的健康。出生队列提供了最适合的设计，用于评估高度污染地区早期生活与可能的长期健康结果之间的关联。通过在收集生物样本的过程中对早期生活环境进行评估，出生队列提供了机会，通过基于临床评估和生物样本采样的问卷调查及随访，深入研究几种可能的混杂因素和结果。暴露组包括从受孕开始的所有暴露；出生队列方法允许将所有暴露整合在一起，包括与社会经济地位相关的暴露，并将其与出生时及一生中收集的生物样本的“组学”数据相结合。在表征“胎儿暴露组”时，胎盘是一个信息丰富但很少被考虑的器官。为此，通过招募居住在污染地区及其周边的孕妇，建立了“新生儿环境与健康结果”（NEHO）出生队列。
