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Health and the Megacity: Urban Congestion, Air Pollution, and Birth Outcomes in Brazil.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Rangel, MA; Tomé, R
Published in: International journal of environmental research and public health
January 2022

We studied the health effects of economic development in heavily urbanized areas, where congestion poses a challenge to environmental conditions. We employed detailed data from air pollution and birth records around the metropolitan area of São Paulo, Brazil, between 2002 and 2009. During this period, the megacity experienced sustained growth marked by the increases in employment rates and ownership of durable goods, including automobiles. While better economic conditions are expected to improve infant health, air pollution that accompanies it is expected to do the opposite. To untangle these two effects, we focused on episodes of thermal inversion-meteorological phenomena that exogenously lock pollutants closer to the ground-to estimate the causal effects of in utero exposure to air pollution. Auxiliary results confirmed a positive relationship between thermal inversions and several air pollutants, and we ultimately found that exposure to inversion episodes during the last three months of pregnancy led to sizable reductions in birth weight and increases in the incidence of preterm births. Increased pollution exposure induced by inversions also has a significant impact over fetal survival as measured by the size of live-birth cohorts.

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Published In

International journal of environmental research and public health

DOI

EISSN

1660-4601

ISSN

1661-7827

Publication Date

January 2022

Volume

19

Issue

3

Start / End Page

1151

Related Subject Headings

  • Toxicology
  • Premature Birth
  • Pregnancy
  • Particulate Matter
  • Maternal Exposure
  • Infant, Newborn
  • Humans
  • Female
  • Brazil
  • Birth Weight
 

Citation

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ICMJE
MLA
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Rangel, M. A., & Tomé, R. (2022). Health and the Megacity: Urban Congestion, Air Pollution, and Birth Outcomes in Brazil. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(3), 1151. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19031151
Rangel, Marcos A., and Romina Tomé. “Health and the Megacity: Urban Congestion, Air Pollution, and Birth Outcomes in Brazil.International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 19, no. 3 (January 2022): 1151. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19031151.
Rangel MA, Tomé R. Health and the Megacity: Urban Congestion, Air Pollution, and Birth Outcomes in Brazil. International journal of environmental research and public health. 2022 Jan;19(3):1151.
Rangel, Marcos A., and Romina Tomé. “Health and the Megacity: Urban Congestion, Air Pollution, and Birth Outcomes in Brazil.International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, vol. 19, no. 3, Jan. 2022, p. 1151. Epmc, doi:10.3390/ijerph19031151.
Rangel MA, Tomé R. Health and the Megacity: Urban Congestion, Air Pollution, and Birth Outcomes in Brazil. International journal of environmental research and public health. 2022 Jan;19(3):1151.

Published In

International journal of environmental research and public health

DOI

EISSN

1660-4601

ISSN

1661-7827

Publication Date

January 2022

Volume

19

Issue

3

Start / End Page

1151

Related Subject Headings

  • Toxicology
  • Premature Birth
  • Pregnancy
  • Particulate Matter
  • Maternal Exposure
  • Infant, Newborn
  • Humans
  • Female
  • Brazil
  • Birth Weight