Study: Living near traffic during pregnancy can damage baby’s brain

By Mark Waghorn via SWNS

Living near a busy road during pregnancy can damage the unborn baby's brain, according to new research.

Children exposed to toxic fumes in the womb are more prone to neurodevelopmental problems.

They include delays in learning to crawl and walk, writing and coloring, known as gross and fine motor skills.

Fumes can also impair personal and social relationships. How kids' understand themselves and build bonds with parents and siblings.

The risk rose by nine percent for every 10 micrograms per cubic meter of air (µg/m3) jump in levels.

The study, published in the journal Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, suggests air pollution poses a bigger threat before than after birth.

No significant results were found for post-natal exposure.

It was based on 17,683 full-term infants in Taiwan without congenital malformations who were assessed through home interviews at six and 18 months of age.

Soot spewed out by traffic and industry travels to the placenta after being breathed into the lungs.

The tiny particles contain black carbon which forms through the combustion of fossil fuels and is bad for human health.

They are dubbed PM2.5s as their diameter is less than 2.5 micrometers - 30 times smaller than the width of a human hair. Exposure was calculated by home address.

Corresponding author Professor Yue Leon Guo, of National Taiwan University Medical School and Hospital, said: "Protection of children from air pollutants needs to be started during their mothers' pregnancy."

Air pollution has long been linked to birth defects, lower weight, higher infant mortality and childhood respiratory problems such as asthma.

The placenta provides oxygen and nutrients to a fetus and removes waste products from its blood. It attaches to the wall, and the umbilical cord arises from it.

Air pollution is also associated with respiratory illnesses, cardiovascular disease and cancer among adults.

Evidence is growing diseases in adulthood originate in the womb due to adverse effects of exposure to environmental contaminants.

Professor Guo said: "Exposure to ambient PM2.5 during pregnancy was significantly related to delay in gross motor, fine motor and personal-social development in this population-based study.

"The critical period for delayed gross motor development was the second trimester. The critical period for fine motor and personal-social development was the second and third trimesters."

Rates of developmental disabilities such as ADHD (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and autism are rising across the world.

Prof Guo said: "Emerging epidemiological studies have reported ambient air pollution influences neurodevelopment, and increases the risk of neurodevelopmental diseases in school-age children."

A critical period of nervous system development begins in the embryo and extends into early infancy.

Prof Guo explained that the blood-brain barrier is not fully developed until the middle of the first year of life.

Rodent models showed neuroinflammation, neurotransmitter imbalance and oxidative stress after exposure to particulate matter during gestation and early life, and particulate matter crossing the placenta was also suggested.

Prof Guo said: "Particulate matter might then cross the immature blood-brain barrier, inducing neurotoxicity, oxidative stress and neuroinflammation."

He added: "We observed an increased risk of developing gross motor, fine motor and personal-social developmental delays among children younger than two years of age living prenatally in environments with higher concentrations of PM2.5."