NTP Evaluation Concept: Pregnancy Outcomes Associated With Traffic-Related Air Pollution

Background and Rationale The Office of Health Assessment and Translation (OHAT) received a nomination to evaluate emerging children’s health issues associated with ambient air (http://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/go/37853). The nomination asked OHAT to consider a broad range of types of ambient air pollution, including traffic. The nomination also asked OHAT to consider a broad range of emerging children’s health outcomes, including adverse birth outcomes. The nomination requested that OHAT focus on children’s health outcomes that had not been as extensively reviewed compared to the traditional emphasis on prevalence or exacerbation of respiratory disease. To help refine the focus, OHAT undertook an exploratory search of the literature to identify areas that could be considered “emerging”, yet developed enough to permit an evaluation. During the exploratory literature search, citations were broadly characterized (e.g. by evidence stream (human, animal or in vitro), type of health outcome, and type of exposure) but no results were summarized. The exploratory literature search revealed an abundant number of studies on pregnancy outcomes (including infant mortality), childhood cancer, childhood mortality, and a smaller number of studies evaluating neurological outcomes following exposure to ambient air pollution (See Supplemental Materials).