The Association between Maternal Living Area and Newborns Anthropometric Measures: Preliminary Results of a Comparison of Haifa-Bay and Central Israel
2Department of Public Health, faculty of health sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, ישראל
3Environment and Health Epidemiology Research Center, Faculty of Health Sciences,, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, ישראל
4Delivery Rooms and Maternity Ward, Shamir (Assaf Harofeh) Medical Center Affiliated to Sackler School of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University
5Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Shamir (Assaf Harofeh) Medical Center Affiliated to Sackler School of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University
6Israel National Residue Control Laboratory, Kimron Veterinary Institute, Veterinary Services, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, ישראל
7Department of Neonatology, Rambam medical center and Technion Israel Institute of Technology, ישראל
8Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Rambam medical center and Technion Israel Institute of Technology, ישראל
Background: According to the Israeli Ministry of Environmental Protection, the number of pollutants emitted in the Haifa Bay area (HBA) are higher than in central Israel. The associations between these exposures and adverse pregnancy outcomes among women living in HBA and their newborns remained unclear.
Objective: To estimate the association between maternal living area to possible alterations in anthropometric measures of their newborns.
Methods: A cross-sectional study recruited 1160 mother-child dyads between 2016-2019. Data including maternal lifestyle questionnaires and anthropometric measures of newborns was collected. Data collected from 568 and 501 dyads from "Rambam" and "Shamir" medical centers, respectively, was analyzed.
Preliminary results: No significant differences were found between the characteristics of newborns born in Rambam and Shamir including gestational age (39.60±1.20 and 39.57±1.18 weeks, respectively; P = 0.72) and birth size for gestational age. Males born in Rambam had higher birthweight (3,410gr±444gr vs 3,314gr±423gr; P < 0.001) and higher head circumference (35.04cm±1.32cm vs 34.8cm±1.16cm; P = 0.017). No significant differences were found among females for none of the measures.
Conclusion: Although birthweight and head circumference were found significantly higher among males born in HBA, both measures were found within the normal ranges. No statistically significant differences were found among any of the other measures for both sexes, yet further research is still undergoing, and includes advanced analysis of data collected from all mothers and newborns recruited.
*The study was supported by a grant from the Ministry of Environmental Protection