title: Maternal residential proximity to major roads in north west England and adverse pregnancy outcomes.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the effects of maternal residential proximity to major roads on adverse pregnancy outcomes.
  
  
  METHODS
  Major road networks in North West England were linked to the maternal residence of 190,909 births (2004 to 2008). Distance between the residence and the nearest major road was calculated and dichotomized at 200 m. Logistic regression analyses were performed to investigate the association between distance to the major road with small for gestational age, low birth weight, and preterm birth. Analyses were adjusted for maternal age, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, parity, birth season, smoking, and body mass index.
  
  
  RESULTS
  No significant associations were observed between preterm birth (odds ratio [OR] = 1.04; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.98 to 1.11), low birth weight (OR = 0.99; 95% CI = 0.93 to 1.05) and small for gestational age (OR = 1.00; 95% CI = 0.95 to 1.06) and living less than 200 m from a major road.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results, from a study with high statistical power, suggest that living less than 200 m from a major road per se does not pose any great risk of an adverse perinatal outcome. Nevertheless, it may be limited to this geographic location. Further work is needed to quantify individual pollutant effects in pregnancy.
authors.affiliation: From the Maternal and Fetal Health Research Centre (Miss Hannam and Dr Sibley), Institute of Human Development, Medical and Human Sciences, Manchester Academic Health Sciences Centre, University of Manchester and Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, UK; Centre for Biostatistics Group (Miss Hannam and Dr McNamee), Health Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK; Centre for Occupational and Environmental Health (Dr Agius), Centre for Epidemiology, Institute of Population Health, Manchester Academic Health Sciences Centre, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK; and Liggins Institute (Dr Baker), University of Auckland, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Kimberly
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hannam
authors.forename: Roseanne
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: McNamee
authors.forename: Philip
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Baker
authors.forename: Colin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sibley
authors.forename: Raymond
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Agius
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000397:Air Pollution; D004739:England / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007230:Infant, Low Birth Weight; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007236:Infant, Small for Gestational Age; D018811:Maternal Exposure; D018986:Motor Vehicles; D011247:Pregnancy; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome / Q000453:epidemiology*; D047928:Premature Birth / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014186:Transportation; D055815:Young Adult