ArticlePloS one2015
Air pollution and stillbirth risk: exposure to airborne particulate matter during pregnancy is associated with fetal death.
Article in PloS one, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 58 papers, 8 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
58 citing papers in PubMed, 8 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 116 citations in OpenAlex.
- Association between long-term and short-term exposure to outdoor air pollution and stillbirth: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2026Pooled it
- Air pollution's toll on adverse birth outcomes: key research insights from Chinese epidemiological studies.Frontiers in public health · 2025Pooled it
- Air Pollution and Racial Disparities in Pregnancy Outcomes in the United States: A Systematic Review.Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2024Pooled it
- Exposure to ambient air pollutions and its association with adverse birth outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis of epidemiological studies.Frontiers in public health · 2024Pooled it
- Gestational age modifies the association between exposure to fine particles and fetal death: findings from a nationwide epidemiological study in the contiguous United States.Environmental health : a global access science source · 2023Pooled it
- Impact of Maternal Demographic and Socioeconomic Factors on the Association Between Particulate Matter and Adverse Birth Outcomes: a Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2021Pooled it
- Association of Air Pollution and Heat Exposure With Preterm Birth, Low Birth Weight, and Stillbirth in the US: A Systematic Review.JAMA network open · 2020Pooled it
- Characteristics of cohort studies of long-term exposure to PMEnvironmental science and pollution research international · 2019Pooled it
- Maternal ambient air pollution exposure and risk of stillbirth in Georgia, USA.Environmental epidemiology (Philadelphia, Pa.) · 2026Article
- IGFBP3 repression driven by inflammation links air pollution to placental and developmental defects.EMBO molecular medicine · 2026Article
- Maternal ambient air pollution exposure and risk of stillbirth in Georgia, USA.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
- Air Pollution and Preterm Birth: A Scoping Review Focused on Preterm Birth Phenotype and Specific Lengths of Gestation.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- In utero exposure to extreme heat increases neonatal mortality.PNAS nexus · 2025Article
- Interventions to reduce the effects of air pollution and of extreme heat on maternal, newborn, and child health outcomes: a mapping of the literature.Journal of global health · 2025Review
- A case-crossover study of air pollution exposure during pregnancy and the risk of stillbirth in Tehran, Iran.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Oxidative Stress and Placental Pathogenesis: A Contemporary Overview of Potential Biomarkers and Emerging Therapeutics.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Review
- The association of short-term increases in ambient PM2.5 and temperature exposures with stillbirth: racial/ethnic disparities among Medicaid recipients.American journal of epidemiology · 2024Article
- Climate change, air pollution and maternal and newborn health: An overview of reviews of health outcomes.Journal of global health · 2024Review
- Dust and Death: Evidence from the West African Harmattan.Economic journal (London, England) · 2024Article
- Effects of air pollution on adverse birth outcomes and pregnancy complications in the U.S. state of Kansas (2000-2015).Scientific reports · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveTo test the hypothesis that exposure to fine particulate air pollution (PM2.5) is associated with stillbirth. STUDY
designGeo-spatial population-based cohort study using Ohio birth records (2006-2010) and local measures of PM2.5, recorded by the EPA (2005-2010) via 57 monitoring stations across Ohio. Geographic coordinates of the mother's residence for each birth were linked to the nearest PM2.5 monitoring station and monthly exposure averages calculated. The association between stillbirth and increased PM2.5 levels was estimated, with adjustment for maternal age, race, education level, quantity of prenatal care, smoking, and season of conception.
resultsThere were 349,188 live births and 1,848 stillbirths of non-anomalous singletons (20-42 weeks) with residence ≤10 km of a monitor station in Ohio during the study period. The mean PM2.5 level in Ohio was 13.3 μg/m3 [±1.8 SD, IQR(Q1: 12.1, Q3: 14.4, IQR: 2.3)], higher than the current EPA standard of 12 μg/m3. High average PM2.5 exposure through pregnancy was not associated with a significant increase in stillbirth risk, adjOR 1.21(95% CI 0.96,1.53), nor was it increased with high exposure in the 1st or 2nd trimester. However, exposure to high levels of PM2.5 in the third trimester of pregnancy was associated with 42% increased stillbirth risk, adjOR 1.42(1.06,1.91).
conclusionsExposure to high levels of fine particulate air pollution in the third trimester of pregnancy is associated with increased stillbirth risk. Although the risk increase associated with high PM2.5 levels is modest, the potential impact on overall stillbirth rates could be robust as all pregnant women are potentially at risk.
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Registered trials
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 OpenQuestion graph.