Skip to main content

SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Environmental Health and Exposome
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1474134
This article is part of the Research Topic Assessing Environmental Influences on Maternal and Infant Health Amidst Climate Change View all articles

Association between Atmospheric Particulate Matter Pollution During Pregnancy and Premature Birth in China: A Meta-Analysis

Provisionally accepted
Bingbing Guo Bingbing Guo Xinye Jiang Xinye Jiang *
  • Wuxi Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital, Women's Hospital of Jiangnan University, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The impact of maternal exposure to outdoor particulate matter during pregnancy on preterm birth areis still inconsistent, particularly under the unique atmospheric particulate matter pollution conditions in China, where the effects on preterm birth remain poorly understood. The study intends to evaluate the correlation between atmospheric particulate matter pollution (PM2.5 and PM10) during pregnancy and premature birth in China through a Meta-analysis.The Chinese databases (CNKI and Wanfangdata), and the English databases (PubMed, Web of Science, and Embase) were searched to collect literature related to exposure to atmospheric particulate matter during pregnancy in China and premature birth. A Meta-analysis was conducted using Stata12.0 software.A total of 29 studies were included in this study (15 cross-sectional studies, 11 cohort studies, and 3 case-control studies), covering more than 30 provinces (municipalities directly under the Central Government) in China, with a total sample size of 9,283,110 people. The Meta-analysis results showed that the risk of premature birth with the OR value was 1.03 (95%CI:1.011.06) for exposure to PM2.5 in midpregnancy, 1.03 (95%CI:1.011.04) for exposure to PM2.5 in late pregnancy, 1.07 (95%CI:1.051.10) for exposure to PM2.5 throughout pregnancy, and 1.04 (95%CI:1.001.07) for exposure to PM10 throughout pregnancy. No correlation was found between exposure to atmospheric particulate matter at other times and the occurrence of premature birth.Although our results indicate that exposure to atmospheric particulate matter during the second and third trimesters of pregnancy increases the risk of preterm birth among pregnant women in China, the association is relatively weak. Additionally, the results may be influenced by potential confounding factors. Therefore, further detailed research is needed to explore the relationship between particulate matter exposure and preterm birth or other adverse pregnancy outcomes.

    Keywords: Pregnancy, Atmospheric particulate matter, Premature Birth, Meta-analysis, matter pollution

    Received: 01 Aug 2024; Accepted: 06 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Guo and Jiang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Xinye Jiang, Wuxi Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital, Women's Hospital of Jiangnan University, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.