Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42428251›Full record

ArticleEnvironmental health perspectives2026

Prenatal Exposure to Ambient Air Pollution and Fetal Growth Trajectories in Wuhan, China.

Chen Hu, Hongxiu Liu, Yang Peng, Jie Hu, Wei Xia, Shunqing Xu, Yuanyuan Li

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Environmental health perspectives, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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1 · What the graph read from it

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2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Chen HuKey Laboratory of Environment and Health (HUST), Ministry of Education & Ministry of Environmental Protection, and State Key Laboratory of Environmental Health (Incubation), School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, Hubei, China.
Hongxiu LiuKey Laboratory of Environment and Health (HUST), Ministry of Education & Ministry of Environmental Protection, and State Key Laboratory of Environmental Health (Incubation), School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, Hubei, China.ORCID 0000-0001-9081-9471
Yang PengSchool of Public Health, Guangxi Medical University, Nanning 530021, China.
Jie HuCenter for Genomic Medicine and Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02114, United States.
Wei XiaKey Laboratory of Environment and Health (HUST), Ministry of Education & Ministry of Environmental Protection, and State Key Laboratory of Environmental Health (Incubation), School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, Hubei, China.ORCID 0000-0001-6182-9806
Shunqing XuKey Laboratory of Environment and Health (HUST), Ministry of Education & Ministry of Environmental Protection, and State Key Laboratory of Environmental Health (Incubation), School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, Hubei, China.ORCID 0000-0002-7771-3821
Yuanyuan LiKey Laboratory of Environment and Health (HUST), Ministry of Education & Ministry of Environmental Protection, and State Key Laboratory of Environmental Health (Incubation), School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, Hubei, China.ORCID 0000-0002-2513-633X

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundWhile numerous studies have examined associations between prenatal air pollution exposure and fetal growth measures, investigations assessing longitudinal growth trajectories across multiple time points during mid-to-late pregnancy remain limited.

objectivesThe aim of this study is to explore the effects of prenatal exposure to air pollution on fetal growth trajectories.

methodsFrom a prospective birth cohort in Wuhan, China, recruited from 2013 to 2016, we included a total of 4283 eligible pregnant women. At 16, 24, 31, and 38 weeks of gestation, we collected ultrasound measurements, including biparietal diameter (BPD), abdominal circumference (AC), femur length (FL), and estimated fetal weight (EFW). Exposure to air pollution during pregnancy was estimated for the participants' residential addresses using a spatial interpolation method. Associations between air pollutants and fetal growth parameters across four exposure windows were examined by using multiple informant models. Group-based trajectory modeling (GBTM) combined with a multinomial logistic regression model was used to explore the effect of air pollution exposure on fetal growth trajectories.

resultsFour trajectory groups for AC, FL, and EFW, and three trajectory groups for BPD were selected based on GBTM. Compared with the reference trajectory group, exposure to higher PM DISCUSSION: Our study provided evidence of negative associations between air pollution exposure during 1-16 weeks of gestation and the fast growth trajectory group. In addition, we observed distinct lagged associations between air pollution and fetal growth, with early pregnancy exposure negatively related to early and midgestational growth, and mid-to-late pregnancy exposure negatively related to growth in the late window. These results underscore the importance of identifying critical windows of susceptibility during pregnancy and support early intervention strategies to mitigate adverse fetal developmental outcomes.

Indexed as

Air PollutantsAir PollutionFetal DevelopmentMaternal ExposureChinaFemaleHumansPregnancyProspective StudiesAir Pollutants

Identifiers

PMID42428251
PMCPMC13347642

What Socratic holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.