While the link between PM2.5 and adverse pregnancy outcomes is well-established, global assessment of the issue still remains sparse. Once inhaled, PM 2.5, with particle sizes of 2.5 micrometers or smaller, can easily travel deep into the lungs. Sources of PM2.5 range from vehicle emission burning fuels, forest fires, and chemical plant exhaust to cooking, smoking, burning candles, and fireplaces.

The smallest class of inhalable particles, PM2.5 permeates both indoor and outdoor air. Preterm birth complications are the leading cause of death among children under 5-years-old, while babies with low birth weight suffer increased risk for noncommunicable diseases, such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease, later in life. Meanwhile, every year, about 15 million babies are born preterm, and approximately 20 million newborns are delivered underweight. Nine out of 10 people in the world breathe polluted air. The findings are 'staggering,' Rakesh Ghosh, an environmental epidemiologist at University of California, San Francisco, and the lead author of the study, told EHN.Īir pollution and birth outcomes are both prevalent global health concerns. After analyzing available data from all inhabited continents, the researchers estimated that exposure to PM2.5-pollutant particles with widths 30 times smaller than a human hair-was linked to almost six million premature births and roughly three million underweight babies across the world in 2019. The study, published today in the journal PLOS Medicine, looked into the pernicious impact of air pollution on birth outcomes worldwide.

Now, new research shows that air pollution is not only a health threat to everyone in the world, but also to those who have not yet arrived. Every year, an estimated seven million people die from air pollution across the globe.

Cc particle world after effects