More and more children are born premature and more and more children are born underweight (less than 2.5 Kg). This is a problem for babies, who are more at risk of suffering from respiratory diseases and other diseases during life, so science is trying to find what are the different causes that make this trend is increasing to try to turn around the tortilla.
One of the things that can hardly be acted on, but which has been seen to affect, is in the environment. Come on, that either society changes a lot, that I don't believe, or we go to the countryside, that I don't believe either. But nevertheless It is one of the reasons for the increase of babies with low birth weight and a recent study involving more than 74,000 pregnant women from various countries confirms that is related to pollution.
The study calculates that for each increase of five micrograms per cubic meter in exposure to suspended particles having a diameter less than 2.5 microns (PM2.5), the risk of low birth weight increases by 18%. The current air quality limit is set at 25 micrograms per cubic meter, however it has been seen that this increased risk also occurs when the air is below that limit. That is, the air would be considered quality, not reaching those 25 micrograms, but the risk of low weight would be increased.
Particles lower than PM2.5 are found in motor vehicle emissions and in air pollutants, which can be found mostly in urban areas. The 74,000 pregnant women studied were exposed to average values of these particles ranging from 10 micrograms to almost 30, exceeding the maximum level of air quality.
The researchers say that if all women were in the 10 micrograms, it would be achieved prevent 22% of cases of babies born with low weight past the 37 weeks of gestation. It is not the first study that suggests something like that, but it is the most important study to date, with a very large sample.
As solutions, as you know, or improve air quality or everything will remain the same for pregnant women living in the cities, it was said that we had smaller babies here because of the stress, anxiety and frantic pace in which we live immersed and look, lack of reason do not have, but there are other causes that do not depend on women, like this one, very related to the place where they live.
