Maternal proximity to petrochemical industrial parks and risk of premature rupture of membranes

Abstract

Background: Living near petrochemical industries has been reported to increase the risks of adverse birth outcomes, such as low birth weight and preterm delivery. However, evidence regarding the effect of petrochemical exposure on pregnancy complications remains limited. The study aims to evaluate the association between maternal proximity to petrochemical industrial parks (PIPs) during pregnancy and the occurrence of premature rupture of membranes (PROM).Method: We conducted a population-based 1:3 case-control study using the 2004-14 Taiwanese Birth Certificate database. Birth records reported as stillbirth or bearing congenital anomalies were excluded. Cases were newborns reported to have PROM, while controls were randomly sampled from those without any pregnancy complications by matching birth year and urbanization index of the residential township. The proximity to PIPs was evaluated by calculating distance to the nearest PIP of the maternal residential township during pregnancy. Furthermore, petrochemical exposure opportunity, accounting for monthly prevailing wind direction, was also quantified during the whole gestational period. We applied conditional logistic regression models to evaluate the associations.Results: A total of 29371 PROM cases were reported during the study period, with a corresponding 88113 healthy controls sampled. The results revealed that living within 3-km from the PIPs during pregnancy would increase the risk of PROM (OR = 1.76, 95% CI: 1.66-1.87). Furthermore, compared to the lowest exposed group, those with high petrochemical exposure opportunity also had significantly increased risks for RPOM occurrence (OR = 1.69-1.75).Conclusions: The results of the present work provide evidence that living near PIPs during pregnancy could increase the risks of PROM, and further studies are warranted to confirm our findings.