Personal exposure to PM_2.5 oxidative potential and its association to birth outcomes

Prenatal exposure to fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) assessed through its mass concentration has been associated with foetal growth restriction in studies based on outdoor levels. Oxidative potential of PM_2.5 (OP) is an emerging metric a priori relevant to mechanisms of action of PM on health, with very limited evidence to indicate its role on birth outcomes.

We investigated the association of OP with birth outcomes and compared it with that of PM_2.5 mass concentration.

405 pregnant women from SEPAGES cohort (Grenoble area) carried PM_2.5 personal dosimeters for one or two one-week periods. OP was measured using dithiothreitol (DTT) and ascorbic acid (AA) assays from the collected filters. Associations of each exposure metric with offspring weight, height, and head circumference at birth were estimated adjusting for potential confounders.

The correlation between PM_2.5 mass concentration and [Formula: see text] was 0.7. An interquartile range increase in .. was associated with reduced weight (adjusted change, -64 g, -166 to -11, p = 0.02) and height (-4 mm, -6 to -1, p = 0.01) at birth. PM_2.5 mass concentration showed similar associations with weight (-53 g, -99 to -8, p = 0.02) and height (-2 mm, -5 to 0, p = 0.05). In birth height models mutually adjusted for the two exposure metrics, the association with [Formula: see text] was less attenuated than that with mass concentration, while for weight both effect sizes attenuated similarly. There was no clear evidence of associations with head circumference for any metric, nor for [Formula: see text] with any growth parameter.

PM_2.5 pregnancy exposure assessed from personal dosimeters was associated with altered foetal growth. Personal OP exposure was associated with foetal growth restrictions, specifically decreased weight and height at birth, possibly to a larger extent than PM_2.5 mass concentration alone. These results support OP assessed from DTT as being a health-relevant metric. Larger scale cohort studies are recommended to support our findings.