Undersized babies linked to air pollution

Air pollution may cause a foetus to reduce in size, according to new research.

Scientists at Queensland University of Technology have found a link between exposure to air pollution during pregnancy and foetus size, after studying more than 15,000 ultrasound scans over a ten-year period.

"The study found that mothers with a higher exposure to air pollution had foetuses that were, on average, smaller in terms of abdominal circumference, head circumference and femur length," said senior research fellow Dr Adrian Barnett, who led the study.

He went on to warn that birth weight could be a "major predictor of later health" and added that "bigger babies have been shown to have higher IQs in childhood and lower risk of cardiovascular disease in adulthood".

Research conducted by obstetrics specialists Jennifer Walsh, a registrar at Coombe Women's Hospital in Dublin and Deirdre Murphy, a professor at Trinity College, University of Dublin, found that gaining and quickly losing weight in between births could increase a mother's chances of a stillbirth.

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