Associations of maternal exposure to fine particulate matter with preterm and early-term birth in high-risk pregnant women

BACKGROUND: Environmental pollution is a risk factor for adverse birth outcomes, especially preterm birth (PTB) and early-term birth (ETB). It has been revealed that exposure to fine particulate matter (PM(2.5)) during pregnancy increase the prevalence of PTB. However, the relationship between PM(2.5) exposure and ETB has not been elucidated. In high-risk pregnancies, whether PM(2.5) exposure will bring higher risk of PTB and ETB than in normal pregnancies is still unclear, and the susceptible exposure window is obscure. Therefore, it is worthy of assessing the risk on PTB and ETB and identifying the susceptible exposure windows of PM(2.5) exposure in high-risk pregnant women. RESULTS: This paper collected the clinical data of 7974 singletons, high-risk pregnant women in Peking University First Hospital from 2014 to 2018, and analyzed them using logistic regression and stratified analysis. We observed that exposure to high-level (≥ 75 µg/m(3)) of PM(2.5) during the third trimester of pregnancy increases the risk of PTB and ETB (PTB: odds ratio[OR] = 1.43, 95% confidence interval [CI]:1.05–1.93. ETB: OR = 1.29, 95%CI: 1.09–1.54). Furthermore, the effects of each 10ug/m(3) increase in PM(2.5) on PTB and ETB were significant during the third trimester (PTB: OR = 1.35, 95%CI:1.16–1.58. ETB: OR = 1.12, 95%CI:1.02–1.22) and the entire pregnancy (PTB: OR = 6.12, 95%CI:4.27–8.89. ETB: OR = 1.96, 95%CI:1.59–2.43) in the high-level exposure group. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that high-level PM(2.5) exposure during pregnancy is associated with high risk of PTB and ETB in high-risk pregnancies. The third trimester of pregnancy is speculated to be the susceptible exposure window. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s41021-022-00239-0.