ArticleEnvironmental health perspectives2015
Differences in Birth Weight Associated with the 2008 Beijing Olympics Air Pollution Reduction: Results from a Natural Experiment.
Article in Environmental health perspectives, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 72 papers, 6 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
72 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 184 citations in OpenAlex.
- Susceptible window identification of the relationship between maternal ozone exposure and preterm birth.International health · 2026Pooled it
- Ambient and household PM2.5 pollution and adverse perinatal outcomes: A meta-regression and analysis of attributable global burden for 204 countries and territories.PLoS medicine · 2021Pooled it
- Combinations of Epidemiological and Experimental Studies in Air Pollution Research: A Narrative Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Pooled it
- Interventions to reduce ambient particulate matter air pollution and their effect on health.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2019Pooled it
- Fine Particulate Matter Concentrations in Urban Chinese Cities, 2005-2016: A Systematic Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2017Pooled it
- The association between ambient air pollution and selected adverse pregnancy outcomes in China: A systematic review.The Science of the total environment · 2017Pooled it
- Implementing empirical likelihood within the causal inference framework to study causal effects of air pollution on reproductive development.Statistical methods in medical research · 2026Article
- PMAir quality, atmosphere, & health · 2025Article
- Association of Maternal PMToxics · 2025Article
- Impacts of Vehicle Emission Regulations and Local Congestion Policies on Birth Outcomes Associated with Traffic Air Pollution.Research report (Health Effects Institute) · 2025Article
- Association of air purifier usage during pregnancy with adverse birth outcomes: the Japan Environment and Children's Study.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Changes in traffic-related air pollution exposures and associations with adverse birth outcomes over 20 years in Texas.International journal of epidemiology · 2024Article
- Associations of Gestational Exposure to Air Pollution and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons with Placental Inflammation.Environment & health (Washington, D.C.) · 2024Article
- Invited Perspective: Changing Places-How Moving Histories Can Help Map the Health Impacts of People's Environmental Exposures.Environmental health perspectives · 2024Article
- Article
- Associations of Exposure to Air Pollution during the Male Programming Window and Mini-Puberty with Anogenital Distance and Penile Width at Birth and at 1 Year of Age in the Multicenter U.S. TIDES Cohort.Environmental health perspectives · 2023Article
- Identifying critical windows of air pollution exposure during preconception and gestational period on birthweight: a prospective cohort study.Environmental health : a global access science source · 2023Article
- The Effect of Maternal Exposure to Air Pollutants and Heavy Metals during Pregnancy on the Risk of Neurological Disorders Using the National Health Insurance Claims Data of South Korea.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2023Article
- Why Not Pedal for the Planet? The Role of Perceived Norms for Driver Aggression as a Deterrent to Cycling.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- Health and Economic Benefits of Air Pollution Reductions in Vietnam During 2020-2021.International journal of public health · 2023Article
12 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
13 authors at 6 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundPrevious studies have reported decreased birth weight associated with increased air pollutant concentrations during pregnancy. However, it is not clear when during pregnancy increases in air pollution are associated with the largest differences in birth weight.
objectivesUsing the natural experiment of air pollution declines during the 2008 Beijing Olympics, we evaluated whether having specific months of pregnancy (i.e., 1st…8th) during the 2008 Olympics period was associated with larger birth weights, compared with pregnancies during the same dates in 2007 or 2009.
methodsUsing n = 83,672 term births to mothers residing in four urban districts of Beijing, we estimated the difference in birth weight associated with having individual months of pregnancy during the 2008 Olympics (8 August-24 September 2008) compared with the same dates in 2007 and 2009. We also estimated the difference in birth weight associated with interquartile range (IQR) increases in mean ambient particulate matter ≤ 2.5 μm in aerodynamic diameter (PM2.5), sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and carbon monoxide (CO) concentrations during each pregnancy month.
resultsBabies whose 8th month of gestation occurred during the 2008 Olympics were, on average, 23 g larger (95% CI: 5 g, 40 g) than babies whose 8th month occurred during the same calendar dates in 2007 or 2009. IQR increases in PM2.5 (19.8 μg/m3), CO (0.3 ppm), SO2 (1.8 ppb), and NO2 (13.6 ppb) concentrations during the 8th month of pregnancy were associated with 18 g (95% CI: -32 g, -3 g), 17 g (95% CI: -28 g, -6 g), 23 g (95% CI: -36 g, -10 g), and 34 g (95% CI: -70 g, 3 g) decreases in birth weight, respectively. We did not see significant associations for months 1-7.
conclusionsShort-term decreases in air pollution late in pregnancy in Beijing during the 2008 Summer Olympics, a normally heavily polluted city, were associated with higher birth weight. CITATION: Rich DQ, Liu K, Zhang J, Thurston SW, Stevens TP, Pan Y, Kane C, Weinberger B, Ohman-Strickland P, Woodruff TJ, Duan X, Assibey-Mensah V, Zhang J. 2015. Differences in birth weight associated with the 2008 Beijing Olympics air pollution reduction: results from a natural experiment. Environ Health Perspect 123:880-887; http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1408795.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.