Link between aerosols and risk of cerebral palsy discovered

Canadian and American doctors have found evidence of a link between the concentration of fine aerosol particles in the air and the likelihood of a child developing cerebral palsy.

JAMA Network Open notes that researchers followed the development of 1.5 million babies born in the womb in Canada. They found that the risk of cerebral palsy increased significantly at higher concentrations of small aerosol particles in the air, while high levels of nitrogen oxide or ozone had little effect on the risk.

This study, which was supervised by Dr. Carmen Misirlian, an associate professor at Harvard University in the United States, was part of a large project aimed at determining the effect of different forms of air pollution on the likelihood of developing cerebral palsy in the womb.

The study included more than 1.5 million pregnant women. It later turned out that about 3,000 boys and girls were born with various forms of cerebral palsy, which allowed scientists to monitor the effect of different forms of air pollution on the likelihood of such developmental disorders.

The researchers’ calculations showed that the risk of cerebral palsy increased by 12 percent for every 2.7 micrograms per cubic meter increase in fine aerosol concentration, which is about half the maximum permissible concentration of these particles according to WHO recommendations. This trend was more pronounced among boys (14 percent) than among girls (8 percent), and the risk of cerebral palsy changed in a similar way with exposure to aerosols in the fetus, both in the early and late stages of its development.

Other pollutants, including nitrogen dioxide and ozone, had no apparent effect on the likelihood of developing cerebral palsy before birth in children of either sex.

Researchers believe these differences are due to the fact that aerosol particles that penetrate the developing fetal brain cause chronic inflammation, which is unusual for other air pollutants. So doctors should take this into account when assessing the risks to the fetus in the womb.