• GGD Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands;
• Folkehelsa Institute, Oslo, Norway;
• Karolinska Institutet, Institute of Environmental Medicine, Stockholm, Sweden.

Recent epidemiological studies indicated that maternal exposure to air pollutants during pregnancy might increase the likelihood of intrauterine growth retardation, low birth weight, premature birth, and congenital malformations. Very little is known about the association between air pollution and pregnancy outcomes for European countries other than the Czech Republic.

The aim of the project is to enhance our knowledge on the impact ambient air pollution on pregnancy outcomes in Europe.

The project is an international collaborative project to enhance our knowledge of the association between ambient air pollution and birth outcomes in Europe. The project will use data that was collected within four birth cohort studies conducted in The Netherlands (ABCD and PIAMA), Norway (MOBA) and Sweden (BAMSE).

Within all cohorts individual-level information on pregnancy outcomes (birth weight, low birth weight, intrauterine growth retardation, and premature birth) and important confounding variables has been collected. One of the main objectives is to develop a statistical model for the estimation of individual exposures to air pollutants for all study participants during different periods of pregnancy. The model will be based on air pollution measurements at selected sites in the study areas and Geographic Information System data and cover the temporal and spatial variability of air pollution.

PIAMA, ESCAPE