The Effects of Prenatal Exposure to Air Pollution on Child Health in China

Abstract

This study examines the short- and long-term health consequences of prenatal exposure to air pollution by combining child health data from an original survey created in collaboration with the Air Pollution Index (API) from official Chinese statistics. We found that prenatal exposure to air pollution is adversely associated with short- and long-term health outcomes among children. In response to one standard deviation increase in the API in the final 28 days before delivery, birth weight and length lowered by 0.388 and 0.458 in z-scores. Additionally, the weight-for-age and height-for-age lowered by 0.370 and 0.441 in z-scores later in life at 13-15 years post-exposure. These effects were not observed in exposure during early- and middle-pregnancy periods but are limited to exposure in the final 28 days before delivery, suggesting that fetuses are more sensitive to pollutants during the late-pregnancy period. We also found gender heterogeneous effects that girls are more vulnerable to fetal air pollution exposure than boys. Our findings uncover fetal and child health risks regarding air pollution and reinforce the importance of policies for mitigating air pollution in developing countries.

Note:
Funding Declaration: This research was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Numbers JP19H04340 and JP21H00709.

Conflict of Interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest associated with this manuscript.

Keywords: Air pollution, Early life exposure, Child health, Short and long-term effects, China.

JEL Classification: I14, J13, O13, Q52, Q53.