Prenatal exposure to particulate matter and term low birth weight: systematic review and meta-analysis

To evaluate the relationships between maternal particulate matter exposure and offspring birth weight. Studies were categorized into three subgroups: term low birth weight (TLBW) among full-term births and all births (regardless of gestational age) and low birth weight (LBW) among all births, based on the search results of MEDLINE and the Web of Science from the inception of the database to April 2022. Subgroup analyses were conducted based on the economic status, region, exposure assessment, risk of bias, and adjustment. Sixty-one studies involving 34,506,975 singleton live births in 15 countries were analyzed. Overall, the risk of bias for most studies (75%) was low. In 39 of 47 term birth studies, the pooled odds ratio of TLBW among term births for per interquartile range (IQR) increases throughout the entire pregnancy was 1.02 (1.01 to 1.03) for PM(2.5) and 1.03 (1.01 to 1.05) for PM(10) after adjustment for covariates. No significant relevance was detected across each trimester period for PM(2.5). A stronger effect was observed during the second trimester (1.03, 1.01 to 1.06) for PM(10). There was no increased risk of TLBW in all births associated with IQR increases in PM(2.5) and PM(10). LBW was associated with PM(2.5) exposure in 4 of 7 studies, but statistical heterogeneity was considerable. In the TLBW subgroup analysis, the effects of PM(2.5) and PM(10) were both greater in studies conducted in advanced countries, studies with low bias, and studies that adjusted for maternal age, infant sex, and parity. Stronger effects were present for PM(2.5) exposure collected from monitoring stations and PM(10) exposure interpolated from the inverse distance weighting model. TLBW may be associated with prenatal exposure to particulate matter, but no critical windows were identified. Stronger associations were observed in advanced countries. Future original study designs need to consider the impact of different exposure assessment modalities and all possible confounding factors. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11356-023-26831-7.