Does Wildfire Smoke Exposure Increase Preterm Birth Risk?

Watch out, poor air quality may cause preterm birth risk. Being exposed to wildfire smoke or forest fire smoke during pregnancy may increase the risk of premature delivery.

Exposure to wildfire smoke may put pregnant women at a higher risk of preterm delivery, reports a new study.

Wildfire Smoke Dangerous Compared to Other Pollution Sources
Fine particles in wildfire smoke can be several times more harmful to human respiratory health than particulate matter from other sources such as car exhaust.

‘Stay away from wildfire smoke during pregnancy! Being exposed to wildfire smoke may increase a pregnant woman's chance of going into premature labor.’
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How Does Poor Air Quality Affect Pregnancy?

The detrimental effects of poor air quality on a person’s health are well documented. In pregnant people, research has shown that poor air quality, such as smog, can lead to a number of adverse outcomes, including preterm birth (PTB), one of the leading causes of infant mortality in the United States as well as globally. PTB is defined as delivery before the 37th week of pregnancy.

Now, in a new study to be presented at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine’s (SMFM) annual meeting, The Pregnancy Meeting — and published in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology — researchers will unveil findings that suggest that being exposed to another type of and potentially more dangerous pollutant ― smoke from wildfires ― increases a pregnant person’s chance of going into labor prematurely, also referred to as spontaneous preterm birth (versus one that is medically induced).

Wildfire Smoke Detrimental for Kids' Health
Children were exposed to higher air pollutant levels during a California wildfire than during a similar-sized controlled burn, stated new study.

Is Wildfire Smoke Bad for Health?

Wildfire smoke is especially harmful to people’s health because it contains extremely fine particles that can enter deep into the lungs and may worsen medical conditions such as asthma and heart disease. These tiny particles can also travel hundreds and sometimes thousands of miles from the wildfire’s point of origin.

Researchers reviewed birth certificates and hospital delivery data from 2007-2012 of more than 2.5 million pregnant people in California. They compared that information with daily estimates of wildfire smoke intensity — based on satellite images — by zip code.

Data revealed that four weeks prior to conception through the first 20 weeks of pregnancy, 86 percent of pregnant individuals were exposed to at least one day of wildfire smoke, with an average exposure of 7.5 days. Results showed that wildfire smoke was significantly associated with spontaneous preterm birth, and each additional day a pregnant person was exposed to wildfire smoke slightly increased the odds of delivering an infant prematurely.

Prenatal Forest Fire Exposure Can Cause Stunting in Children
Mother’s exposure to forest fire smoke during pregnancy can cause stunting in children, reveals a new study.

Wildfire Air Pollution: A Threat to Human Health

“Wildfires lead to acute and abrupt changes in air quality,” says the study’s lead author, Anne Waldrop, MD, a maternal-fetal medicine subspecialist fellow at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif. “And some emerging evidence suggests that wildfire smoke could be worse for your health than other types of pollutants. So, even as we work to decrease other forms of air pollution, with wildfires becoming more frequent, more intense, and happening on a much larger scale, exposure to wildfire smoke is a serious public health problem, especially for vulnerable populations like pregnant people.”

Source-Eurekalert

Forest Fire Causes DNA Damage and Lung Cell Death
Pollutants from forest fire induce inflammation, oxidative stress, and cause genetic damage in human lung cells and death to human lung cells.