Associations of gestational exposure to air pollution with maternal vitamin D levels: a meta-analysis
Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, dgae395, https://doi.org/10.1210/clinem/dgae395 PDF behind paywall
Anne-Claire Binter, PhD, Akhgar Ghassabian, MD PhD, Runyu Zou, PhD, Hanan El Marroun, PhD, Aitana Lertxundi, PhD, Karen M Switkowski, PhD, Marisa Estarlich, PhD, Ana Cristina Rodríguez-Dehli, MD, Ana Esplugues, PhD, Tanja Vrijkotte, PhD ... Show more
Objective
Maternal vitamin D level is an important determinant of pregnancy and child health outcomes. Exposure to air pollution is suspected to increase the risk of vitamin D deficiency, but the evidence is scarce. We investigated the association between air pollution during pregnancy and maternal vitamin D levels.
Methods
A total of 15,935 pregnant women from 5 birth cohorts in Europe and U.S were included. Averaged concentrations of nitrogen oxides, fine and coarse particles, and composition of fine particles from conception until vitamin D measurement were estimated at participants’ residential addresses using land-use regression or other spatiotemporal models. Cohorts measured vitamin D as 25(OH)D or 25(OH)D3 levels in serum or plasma at early or mid-pregnancy. We defined suboptimal vitamin D levels as levels below 20 ng/mL. We performed logistic regression models for each cohort to estimate the association between air pollution exposure and suboptimal vitamin D levels and pooled cohort-specific estimates in a random-effect meta-analysis. Models were adjusted for sociodemographic and lifestyle characteristics and month of conception.
Results
We found an association between PM2.5 and higher odds of suboptimal vitamin D levels (i.e., below 20 ng/mL) (odds ratio per 5 μg/m3 increase in PM2.5, 1.43 95%CI: 1.02, 1.99). There was no association between other air pollutant exposure and vitamin D levels.
Conclusions
PM2.5 exposure might contribute to suboptimal levels of vitamin D in pregnancy. Reducing air pollution exposure should be a priority because vitamin D deficiency may adversely influence offspring development.
VitaminDWiki Air Pollution reduces Vitamin D page contains
Fact: Pollution reduces the amount of time that people are outdoors
Fact: Pollution is often associated with hot temperatures - another reason to not go outdoors
Fact: Less time outdoors results in lower Vitamin D levels
Fact: Pollution attenuates the amount of UVB getting to the skin (but by only a few percent)
Fact:The body's ability to fight Irritation/Inflammation is aided by vitamin D
Fact: All of the types of PM2.5 deaths are also associated with low vitamin D
Most air pollutions reduce Vitamin D (PM2.5 is worst) – June 2021
Conclusion: Vitamin D supplementation helps the body fight the effects of pollution.
- There were 60+ references in Air Pollution reduces Vitamin D page as of June 2023
- Inhaled vitamin D might turn out to be especially good form as it goes directly to the lungs.