ArticleJournal of exposure science & environmental epidemiology2022
Prenatal exposure to wildfire-related air pollution and birth defects in Brazil.
Article in Journal of exposure science & environmental epidemiology, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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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.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 39 citations in OpenAlex.
- Health Impacts of Wildfire Smoke on Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Current environmental health reports · 2024Pooled it
- Wildland fire smoke and birth defects in California.Journal of exposure science & environmental epidemiology · 2026Article
- Review
- Respiratory Health Impacts from Natural Disasters and Other Extreme Weather Events: The Role of Environmental Stressors on Asthma and Allergies.Current allergy and asthma reports · 2025Review
- Article
- The Camp fire and perinatal health: an example of the generalized synthetic control method to identify susceptible windows of exposure.American journal of epidemiology · 2025Article
- Living Near Wildfires and the Risk of Fetal Congenital Heart Defects: Evaluating Critical Windows of Vulnerability.AJP reports · 2025Article
- Fires in Brazil: health crises and the failure of government action.Lancet regional health. Americas · 2024Article
- Obstetric care for environmental migrants.Irish journal of medical science · 2024Review
- "Air That Once Was Breath" Part 2: Wildfire Smoke and Airway Disease - "Climate Change, Allergy and Immunology" Special IAAI Article Collection: Collegium Internationale Allergologicum Update 2023.International archives of allergy and immunology · 2024Review
- Science communication on the public health risks of air pollution: a computational scoping review from 1958 to 2022.Archives of public health = Archives belges de sante publique · 2023Article
- Wildfire Variable Toxicity: Identifying Biomass Smoke Exposure Groupings through Transcriptomic Similarity Scoring.Environmental science & technology · 2022Article
- Birth Outcomes, Health, and Health Care Needs of Childbearing Women following Wildfire Disasters: An Integrative, State-of-the-Science Review.Environmental health perspectives · 2022Review
- Wildfires in Pregnancy: Potential Threats to the Newborn.Paediatric and perinatal epidemiology · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundBirth defects are a major cause of poor health outcomes during both childhood and adulthood. A growing body of evidence demonstrated associations between air pollution exposure during pregnancy and birth defects. To date, there is no study looking at birth defects and exposure to wildfire-related air pollution, which is suggested as a type of air pollution source with high toxicity for reproductive health.
objectiveOur study addresses this gap by examining the association between birth defects and wildfire smoke exposure in Brazil between 2001 and 2018. Based on known differences of impacts of wildfires across different regions of Brazil, we hypothesized differences in risks of birth defects for different regions.
methodsWe used a logistic regression model to estimate the odds ratios (ORs) for individual birth defects (12 categories) associated with wildfire exposure during each trimester of pregnancy.
resultsAmong the 16,825,497 birth records in our study population, there were a total of 7595 infants born in Brazil between 2001 and 2018 with birth defects in any of the selected categories. After adjusting for several confounders in the primary analysis, we found statistically significant OR for three birth defects, including cleft lip/cleft palate [OR: 1.007 (95% CI: 1.001; 1.013)] during the second trimester of exposure, congenital anomalies of the respiratory system [OR: 1.013 (95% CI: 1.002; 1.023)] in the second trimester of exposure, and congenital anomalies of the nervous system [OR: 1.002 (95% CI: 1.001; 1.003)] during the first trimester of exposure for the regions South, North, and Midwest, respectively. SIGNIFICANCE: Our results suggest that maternal exposure to wildfire smoke during pregnancy may increase the risk of an infant being born with some congenital anomaly. Considering that birth defects are associated with long-term disability, impacting families and the healthcare system (e.g., healthcare costs), our findings should be of great concern to the public health community. IMPACT STATEMENT: Our study focused on the association between maternal exposure to wildfire smoke in Brazil during pregnancy and the risk of an infant being born with congenital anomalies, which presents serious public health and environmental challenges.
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Registered trials
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