Study: Women living near major, heavy traffic roads may give birth prematurely

Live near a major, heavy trafficked road and expecting a baby? You might want to move. According to a new study by the Okayama Graduate School of Medicine, women living near major roads that see a lot of traffic are more likely to give birth prematurely. Why? The study said that the findings could be due to air pollution created by traffic.

Takashi Yorifuji and his team said that it was still too early to see a clear link. The team studied more than 14,000 babies born between the years of 1997 and 2008 in Shizuoka, which is about 94 miles west of Toyko.

“Air pollution is considered to be a potentially important risk factor of preterm births,” Yorifuji told Reuters.

The study said that 15 percent of women residing 200 meters of a major road gave birth before 37 weeks. A normal pregnancy is 40 weeks.

– By: Omar Rana

Source: Reuters