Their analysis showed that an increase in exposure of one microgram per cubic metre of fire-sourced particulate matter was associated with a 2.17-gram reduction in birth weight.
They then assessed exposure to landscape fire pollutants using data on fire emissions from the Global Fire Emission Database and a model that converted this data into ground-surface concentrations of particulate matter in different regions. They used surveys conducted by the US Agency for International Development between 20 to find out information about sibling birth weights and other health and demographic factors. The researchers conducted a case-control study in 54 LMICs where they matched 108,137 groups of siblings to their mothers. We wanted to explore the association between birth weight and exposure to fire source pollution across several countries and over a long time period." "Several studies have shown the effects of landscape fire smoke on acute lung and heart conditions, but the health impacts of these pollutants on susceptible pregnant women are not well known. "Babies with low birth weights are at higher risk of a range of diseases in later life compared to normal weight newborns," explains co-first author Jiajianghui Li, a PhD student at the Institute of Reproductive and Child Health, School of Public Health Science Centre, Peking University, China. Reducing the risk of low birth weight is one of the World Health Organization's global targets for 2025.
Previous studies have shown that exposure to fire smoke during pregnancy is linked to low birth weight, which itself is a public health problem in LMICs. Yet, landscape fire smoke is triggering a costly and growing global public health problem, causing recurrent episodes of pollution mostly affecting LMICs. Landscape fires, such as wildfires, tropical deforestation fires and agricultural biomass burning, play an important role in maintaining terrestrial ecosystems. The study is the first to report a link between low birth weight and exposure to fire smoke in low and middle-income countries (LMICs), where 90% of low birth weight infants are born and landscape fires are prevalent.
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