14 DAY TRIAL // Writing in a recent issue of the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, a team of researchers with the University of Florida shows that, when compared to pregnant women who are not exposed to air pollutants, those who breathe in airborne compounds and fine particles are more likely to suffer from high blood pressure.
The specialists go on to detail that, according to their investigations into the matter at hand, this high blood pressure in turn ups a woman's chances to develop medical complications that threaten both her and her child's life.
In order to determine how air pollution influences a mother's high blood pressure during pregnancy, the researchers looked into the medical records of over 22,000 women who all delivered babies in Jacksonville, Florida, between the years 2004 and 2005.
As detailed on the University of Florida's website, the specialists also collected and analyzed data concerning air quality in the areas where these women lived.
To make sure that their study focused solely on the impact that air pollution has on the blood pressure of a mother-to-be, the scientists did not include any women documented to suffer from chronic hypertension in their investigation.
Mothers who had delivered babies prematurely before the start of this investigation, together with those who experienced health issues that had nothing to do with an elevated blood pressure while the study was ongoing, were also excluded.
Of the women whose health was closely monitored by the University of Florida researchers, 4.7% developed high blood pressure at one point during pregnancy.
As far as the researchers could tell, hypertension disorders were more common among women who were constantly exposed to carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and/or fine particulate matter pollution.
Based on the information they collected while carrying out this investigation, the specialists have reasons to believe that air pollution is as dangerous to a mother and her child during the first few months of pregnancy as it is during the last ones.
“It looks like the whole period has impacts for hypertension,” said researcher Xiaohui Xu, M.D., Ph.D.
“Fetal development is very sensitive to environmental factors. Hypertension (high blood pressure), in particular, is associated with increased morbidity and mortality, causing a lot of problems for the mother and fetus, including preterm delivery,” he added.
The researchers plan to carry out further investigations and hope to determine whether air pollution also influences a baby's birth-weight, and if it could be that airborne contaminants also trigger preterm delivery.