Department of Geography & Environmental Studies, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, 87131, USA.
UNM Center for the Advancement of Spatial Informatics Research and Education (ASPIRE), University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, 87131, USA.
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2023 Sep;30(43):98526-98535. doi: 10.1007/s11356-023-29291-1. Epub 2023 Aug 23.
Infants with low birth weight (LBW) are more likely to have health problems than normal weight infants. In studies examining the associations between particulate matter (PM) exposures and LBW, there is a tendency to focus on PM as a whole. However, insufficient information is available regarding the effects of different components of PM on birth weight. This study identified the associations between maternal exposure to 10 metal components of PM and LBW in offspring based on small area (divided by population size) level data in New Mexico, USA, from 2012 to 2016. This study used a pruned feed-forward neural network (pruned-FNN) approach to estimate the annual average exposure index to each metal component in each small area. The linear regression model was employed to examine the association between maternal PM metal exposures and LBW rate in small areas, adjusting for the female percentage and race/ethnicity compositions, marriage status, and educational level in the population. An interquartile range increase in maternal exposure to mercury and chromium of PM increased LBW rate by 0.43% (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.18-0.68%) and 0.63% (95% CI: 0.15-1.12%), respectively. These findings suggest that maternal exposure to metal components of air pollutants may increase the risk of LBW in offspring. With no similar studies in New Mexico, this study also posed great importance because of a higher LBW rate in New Mexico than the national average. These findings provide critical information to inform further epidemiological, biological, and toxicological studies.
低出生体重（LBW）婴儿比正常体重婴儿更有可能出现健康问题。在研究 PM 暴露与 LBW 之间的关联时，倾向于将 PM 作为一个整体进行研究。然而，关于 PM 不同成分对出生体重的影响，信息还不够充分。本研究基于美国新墨西哥州 2012 年至 2016 年的小面积（按人口规模划分）水平数据，确定了母体暴露于 PM 中的 10 种金属成分与后代 LBW 之间的关联。本研究使用修剪前馈神经网络（pruned-FNN）方法来估计每个小面积中每种金属成分的年平均暴露指数。采用线性回归模型，在调整人口中的女性比例和种族/民族构成、婚姻状况和教育水平后，检验小面积内母体 PM 金属暴露与 LBW 率之间的关联。母体 PM 中汞和铬的暴露增加一个四分位间距，LBW 率分别增加 0.43%（95%置信区间：0.18-0.68%）和 0.63%（95%置信区间：0.15-1.12%）。这些发现表明，母体暴露于空气污染物中的金属成分可能会增加后代 LBW 的风险。由于新墨西哥州的 LBW 率高于全国平均水平，而该州尚无类似的研究，因此本研究也具有重要意义。这些发现为进一步的流行病学、生物学和毒理学研究提供了关键信息。
