Living Near Highway Tied to Adverse Birth Outcomes

Living near a highway may raise a pregnant woman’s risk of premature delivery or having a low birth weight baby and, counterintuitively, affluent moms-to-be seem to be more vulnerable to highway pollution than their less well-off counterparts.

Using the Quebec birth registry, the researchers analyzed data on nearly 100,000 live births registered between 1997 and 2001 in Montreal, Canada’s second largest city where highways run through affluent and poor neighborhoods alike. The study is published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.
They found that among all mothers residing within 200 meters of a major highway were 14 percent more likely to deliver prematurely (before the 37th week of pregnancy) and 17 percent more likely to have a low birth weight baby (less than 2500 grams, or about 5.50 pounds) compared with those residing further away.

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