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Updated: Apr 8, 2026

Measuring Carbon Content in Airway Macrophages Exposed to Carbon-Containing Particulate Matters
Published on: July 12, 2024
Acute and recent air pollution exposure and cardiovascular events at labour and delivery
Tuija Männistö1, Pauline Mendola2, Katherine Laughon Grantz2
1Epidemiology Branch, Division of Intramural Population Health Research, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Rockville, Maryland, USA Northern Finland Laboratory Centre NordLab, Oulu, Finland Department of Clinical Chemistry, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland Medical Research Center Oulu, Oulu University Hospital and University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland Department of Chronic Disease Prevention, National Institute for Health and Welfare, Oulu, Finland.
Objective:
To study the relationship between acute air pollution exposure and cardiovascular events during labour/delivery.
Methods:
The Consortium on Safe Labor (2002-2008), an observational US cohort with 223,502 singleton deliveries provided electronic medical records. Air pollution exposure was estimated by modified Community Multiscale Air Quality models. Cardiovascular events (cardiac failure/arrest, stroke, myocardial infarcts and other events) were recorded in the hospital discharge records for 687 pregnancies (0.3%). Logistic regression with generalised estimating equations estimated the relationship between cardiovascular events and daily air pollutant levels for delivery day and the 7 days preceding delivery.
Results:
Increased odds of cardiovascular events were observed for each IQR increase in exposure to nitric oxides at 5 and 6 days prior to delivery (OR=1.17, 99% CI 1.04 to 1.30 and OR=1.15, 1.03 to 1.28, respectively). High exposure to toxic air pollution species such as ethylbenzene (OR=1.50, 1.08 to 2.09), m-xylene (OR=1.54, 1.11 to 2.13), o-xylene (OR=1.51, 1.09 to 2.09), p-xylene (OR=1.43, 1.03 to 1.99) and toluene (OR=1.42, 1.02 to 1.97) at 5 days prior to delivery were also associated with cardiovascular events. Decreased odds of events were observed with exposure to ozone.
Conclusions:
Air pollution in the days prior to delivery, especially nitrogen oxides and some toxic air pollution species, was associated with increased risk of cardiovascular events during the labour/delivery admission.
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