Industrial air pollution and newborn hearing screening failure

Area of Science:

• Environmental Health
• Pediatrics
• Toxicology

Background:

• Newborn hearing loss impacts language and cognitive development.
• Metals in air pollution are associated with adverse birth outcomes.
• Potential link between metal exposure and infant hearing loss is under-explored.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate associations between maternal exposure to PM2.5-bound metals and newborn hearing screening (NHS) failure.
• To identify specific metals contributing to increased risk of hearing impairment in newborns.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective cohort study of 141,406 births in New Mexico (2008-2017).
• Exposure assessment using the Risk-Screening Environmental Indicators (RSEI) model for PM2.5-bound metals.
• Spatial log-binomial regression analysis to calculate adjusted relative risks (aRRs) for NHS failure.

Main Results:

• Maternal exposure to antimony, barium, beryllium, chromium, cobalt, manganese, mercury, vanadium, and zinc in PM2.5 was positively associated with NHS failure (aRRs 1.07-2.18).
• A dose-response trend was observed with increasing levels of exposure to these metals.
• Significant associations were found even after adjusting for confounders.

Conclusions:

• Maternal exposure to specific PM2.5-bound metals during pregnancy is a risk factor for newborn hearing loss.
• Air pollution, specifically metal-containing particulate matter, represents a modifiable risk factor for infant hearing health.
• Findings highlight the need for interventions to reduce environmental metal exposure for pregnant women.