Smog clouding Beijing’s skies is not only damaging people’s lungs – breathing polluted air may also put pregnant women at greater risk of having miscarriages, a new study has found.
The research by Chinese scientists, published on Monday in the journal Nature Sustainability, examined data from more than 255,000 pregnant women living in the capital over an eight-year period.
Researchers found a significant correlation between pollution levels and “missed abortion” in the first trimester, a common form of miscarriage that can go undiagnosed for weeks.
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The risk of such a miscarriage, where a fetus or embryo will stop developing, increases sharply with higher concentrations of air pollutants, they found.
The findings add to a growing body of global research linking pollution to birth defects and pregnancy complications. It also adds maternal and fetal health to the list of outcomes connected to air pollution – including lung cancer, heart disease and stroke, as well as a general rise in deaths and hospital care.
Many mothers in China worry about the impact air pollution could have on their unborn children. Photo: AFP
But for many mothers in China, the findings just confirm concerns they already had about the potential impact of smog on their unborn children.
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Among them is 35-year-old new mother Yao Yuan, who found herself becoming “borderline paranoid” during her pregnancy in Shanghai.
