Are susceptible periods of exposure to air pollution during pregnancy the same for everyone?

Danielle Demateis

Third year PhD student in statistics

Exposure to air pollution during susceptible time periods in pregnancy has been linked to low birth weight, which is a known risk factor for health problems later in life. While this link is well established in the scientific community, it is not yet clear whether susceptible time periods change based on maternal characteristics (e.g. stress level, socio-economic status (SES), or body mass index) or neighborhood level factors (e.g. characteristics of a mother’s community).

​I am developing a new model that allows me to determine different susceptible time periods of exposure based on a neighborhood level factor. One factor that I think may be interesting is an indicator of collective health and social vulnerabilities in a mother’s community. The Colorado EnviroScreen project has created such an indicator for every census tract in Colorado. I am using my newly developed model to see how this indicator plays a role in the effect of air pollution on birth weight.