Decidedly, the fine particles should not be taken lightly. We already knew that they were responsible for 48,000 deaths in France each year and that they killed more than AIDS and malaria combined. Today, thanks to a new study from the University of York (in Great Britain), we have just learned that fine particles are also responsible for 18% of premature births worldwide.
Small reminder: we are talking about ” prematurity “When childbirth occurs before 35 weeks of pregnancy (or 37 weeks of amenorrhea),” very premature “when the baby arrives between 6 and 7 months of pregnancy and” very premature “when the birth occurs before 6 months of pregnancy.
Prematurity, a danger for the child
Prematurity is dangerous for the child: babies born “too early” are more likely to suffer from growth retardation, hyperactivity, relationship difficulties, type 2 diabetes …
To reach this conclusion, the British researchers worked with medical data from 183 countries. They found that in 2010, 2.7 million babies (or 18% of the total number of births worldwide) were born early due to the atmospheric pollution.
A higher figure in the countries of Southeast Asia and East Asia, which concentrate 75% of cases. India alone has 1 million fine particle premature births; the figure reaches 500,000 in China.
In Europe, the rate of premature births is around 5% (7.4% in France). In Asia and Africa, this rate is between 15% and 18%.