Air pollution is linked to almost a million stillbirths, causing emotional trauma among couples

The World Health Organization estimates that outdoor air pollution causes the deaths of 7 million people each year.

Air pollution is linked to almost a million stillbirths, causing emotional trauma among couples

Air pollution is a slow poison that we breathe every day. The majority of that poisonous, lethal pollution is made up of tiny particulate matter, or PM2.5, which originates from several sources, including industry, agriculture, the combustion of fossil fuels, dust storms, and other sources. The entire percentage of stillbirths worldwide attributed to air pollution has now been calculated for the first time through analysis. In a re-evaluation of previously gathered data and published studies on stillbirths and air pollution from 137 nations, the researchers found that over 40% of the annual stillbirth rate in those countries, or around 830,000 out of 2.09 million, was due to exposure to fine particle pollution.

Researchers used data on 46,391 pregnancies from 13,870 individuals from Demographic and Health Surveys collected between 1998 and 2016 across Asia and Africa to draw their results. A control group and a group of pregnancies that resulted in stillbirths were created. After that, they calculated each subject's exposure to air pollution based on their place of residence and took into account their surroundings and demographics.