ArticleCurrent epidemiology reports2017
Environmental chemicals and preterm birth: Biological mechanisms and the state of the science.
Article in Current epidemiology reports, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 71 papers, 4 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
71 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Oil and Gas Development and Adverse Birth Outcomes: A Qualitative and Quantitative Bias Analysis of the Epidemiologic Literature.Current environmental health reports · 2026Pooled it
- Prenatal metal(loid) exposure and preterm birth: a systematic review of the epidemiologic evidence.Journal of exposure science & environmental epidemiology · 2025Pooled it
- Urinary oxidative stress biomarkers are associated with preterm birth: an Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes program study.American journal of obstetrics and gynecology · 2023Pooled it
- Cervical pessary to prevent preterm birth in asymptomatic high-risk women: a systematic review and meta-analysis.American journal of obstetrics and gynecology · 2020Pooled it
- Associations of glyphosate exposure in pregnancy with preterm birth: a longitudinal birth cohort study.Environmental pollution (Barking, Essex : 1987) · 2026Article
- A decomposition analysis to evaluate the role of social, chemical, and neighborhood factors on the Black/White disparity in preterm birth in Greater Houston, Texas.Environmental epidemiology (Philadelphia, Pa.) · 2026Article
- Article
- Associations between prenatal exposure to ambient air pollutants and preterm birth in the Atlanta African American maternal-child cohort.Environmental health : a global access science source · 2026Article
- Association of maternal VDR and VDBP gene polymorphisms with spontaneous preterm birth risks: a nested case-control study in China.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2025Article
- Fetal response to maternal exposures of environmental chemicals: Utility of a four-cell human feto-maternal interface organ-on-chip.Chemico-biological interactions · 2025Article
- Neighborhood Diversity Is Good for Your Health: An Example of Racial/Ethnic Integration and Preterm Birth in Texas.Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2025Article
- Experiences of multiple psychosocial stressors and associations with oxidative stress biomarkers during pregnancy.Free radical biology & medicine · 2025Article
- Association of maternal prenatal phthalate exposure and genetic polymorphisms of metabolic enzyme genes with spontaneous preterm birth: a nested case-control study in China.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2025Article
- Consumer Product Chemical Mixtures and Oxylipin-Mediated Inflammation and Oxidative Stress during Early Pregnancy: Findings from a Large US Pregnancy Cohort.Environmental science & technology · 2025Article
- Exposure to organophosphate ester flame retardants and plasticizers and associations with preeclampsia and blood pressure in pregnancy.Environmental research · 2024Article
- Review
- Long-term ambient sulfur dioxide exposure during gestation and preterm birth in North Carolina, 2003-2015.Atmospheric environment (Oxford, England : 1994) · 2024Article
- Endocrine disruption and male reproductive disorders: unanswered questions.Human reproduction (Oxford, England) · 2024Review
- Prenatal per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and maternal oxidative stress: Evidence from the LIFECODES study.Chemosphere · 2024Article
- Gestational exposure to organochlorine compounds and metals and infant birth weight: effect modification by maternal hardships.Environmental health : a global access science source · 2024Article
11 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
2 authors.
Funding
Abstract
purpose of reviewPreterm birth is a significant worldwide health problem of uncertain origins. The extant body of literature examining environmental contaminant exposures in relation to preterm birth is extensive but results remain ambiguous for most organic pollutants, metals and metalloids, and air pollutants. In the present review we examine recent epidemiologic studies investigating these associations, and identify recent advances and the state of the science. Additionally, we highlight biological mechanisms of action in the pathway between chemical exposures and preterm birth, including inflammation, oxidative stress, and endocrine disruption, that deserve more attention in this context. RECENT
findingsImportant advances have been made in the study of the environment and preterm birth, particularly in regard to exposure assessment methods, exploration of effect modification by co-morbidities and exposures, and in identification of windows of vulnerability during gestation. There is strong evidence for an association between maternal exposure to some persistent pesticides, lead, and fine particulate matter, but data on other contaminants is sparse and only suggestive trends can be noted with the current data. SUMMARY: Beyond replicating current findings, further work must be done to improve understanding of mechanisms underlying the associations observed between environmental chemical exposures and preterm birth. By examining windows of vulnerability, disaggregating preterm birth by phenotypes, and measuring biomarkers of mechanistic pathways in these epidemiologic studies we can improve our ability to detect associations with exposure, provide additional evidence for causality in an observational setting, and identify opportunities for intervention.
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.