Abstract
Pregnant women living in industrially contaminated sites (ICSs) are exposed to environmental contaminants through different pathways, and thus children’s health may be affected by pollutants. We created the Neonatal Environment and Health Outcomes (NEHO) longitudinal birth cohort in three ICSs in the Mediterranean area of southern Italy, collecting comprehensive information on personal data and lifestyles by questionnaire. Through multiple correspondence analysis, we identified possible clusters of enrolled women, and a neural network classifier analysis (NNCA) was performed to identify variables capable of predicting the attrition rate of the study. NEHO recruited 845 mother–child pairs over two years. The mothers’ mean age was 31.1 ± 5.2 SD years. We found significant differences in socioeconomic status (SES) among the three evaluated ICS, and an overall 11.1% prevalence of mothers who actively smoked during pregnancy. Active smoking during pregnancy was strongly associated with the lowest socioeconomic level (p < 0.0001). By means of the NNCA, we found that smoking during pregnancy and the lowest education level characterized the cluster with the highest attrition rate (p < 0.001). Our results demonstrate that reason for public health concern still exists regarding smoking during pregnancy and that SES influences both lifestyles, producing negative pregnancy outcomes and a higher survey attrition rate.
Highlights
Contaminated sites are a serious public health concern, and there is growing focus on their impact on the environment and human health
The Neonatal Environment and Health Outcomes (NEHO) cohort enrolled, on a voluntary basis, 845 pregnant women living in the 3 national priority contaminated sites (NPCSs) of Crotone, Augusta-Priolo, and Milazzo-Valle del Mela in the Mediterranean area of southern Italy, along with pregnant women living in surrounding areas presenting similar geographic and sociodemographic characteristics
NEHO is the first Italian longitudinal birth cohort to evaluate mother–child pair characteristics in a population living in industrially contaminated sites (ICSs), including detailed information from quescharacteristics in a population living in ICSs, including detailed information from questionnaires and collecting biological samples from participating mother–child pairs
Summary
Contaminated sites are a serious public health concern, and there is growing focus on their impact on the environment and human health. Organization (WHO) defines contaminated sites as “Areas hosting or having hosted human activities which have produced or might produce environmental contamination of soil, surface or groundwater, air, food chain, resulting or being able to result in human health impacts” [1]. Living in proximity to industrially contaminated sites (ICSs), and being exposed to increased concentrations of environmental hazards, along with disadvantaged social and economic conditions, result in an increased incidence of diseases during childhood [2]. There are many ICSs in Europe [5], and in Italy a total of 57 ICSs were officially defined in 2009 as national priority contaminated sites (NPCSs) for environmental remediation.
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