Adverse Effects of Pollutants on Expectant Mothers— From Womb to Grave : A Retrospective Review

Abstract

ABSTRACT Aim The present state-of-art study is an attempt to decipher how adversely the air pollution and its constituents affect the fate of a developing fetus. This involves a detailed study on criteria pollutant and its impact on various pregnancy outcomes, i.e., low birth weight, premature birth, intrauterine growth retardation, and reduction in fetus size. Materials and methods All the concerned research and review papers from the virtual dataset were segregated and have been studied specifically. Results In relevance to the specific pollutants, the particulate matter (PM) seems to be greatly responsible for causing neonatal deaths and high infant mortality rates, whereas the exposure to nitrogen dioxide (NO2) reveals low-birth-weight fetus. Proceeding further, sulfur dioxide (SO2) greatly targets expectant mothers in the second and last trimesters of pregnancy, resulting in low-birth-weight fetuses. The impact of carbon monoxide (CO) during pregnancy was also studied and found to be responsible for structural malformations. Active and passive smoking both boost pregnancy complications in terms of ectopic pregnancy, low birth weight, and infant mortality. Discussion Very few studies have been reported that reveal the dependency of pollutant exposure and reproductive outcomes. One strong interpretation is not sufficient enough to meet the complexity related to plethora of information. Due to variation in the number of factors like spatial and temporal variation, maternal thresholds, period of pregnancy, period of exposure, etc., the extrapolation of result is multifaceted. Different epidemiological studies with different adaptation in methodology report diverse consequences. Conclusion The evidence is satisfactory enough to reveal that the most potent pollutant seems to be PM. The detailed biologic mechanism regarding how these pollutants find their way to placental membrane and disturb the fetal destiny is still vague. The review suggests that reproductive awareness programs should be initiated by the government and policy analysts should be done to lessen the increasing economic burden on human health. How to cite this article Saxena R, Jain S. Adverse Effects of Pollutants on Expectant Mothers—From Womb to Grave: A Retrospective Review. J South Asian Feder Obst Gynae 2016;8(2):157-162.