A new study shows not only can air pollution affect older people, but it can also affect unborn babies as well.
The study was conducted by the American Heart Association. It shows that in the third trimester of pregnancy, air pollution can increase the odds of high blood pressure during childhood.
While there have been studies into the effects air pollution has on older children, this is the first to study how it impacts unborn babies.
Dr. Noel Mueller is an assistant professor in the department of epidemiology at the Bloomberg School of Public Health, and is the senior author of the study.
“We looked at women who were in different areas of air pollution. We split them up into thirds, and women who were in the upper third of air pollution exposure compared to the bottom third, tended to have children who had a 60 percent greater risk for developing high blood pressure during childhood.”
Mueller said just under 13-hundred mothers and children were a part of the study.
He said researchers also adjusted for other factors that may contribute to high blood pressure, like maternal smoking and birth weight.