Abstract

 

Introduction: Due to high prevalence of spontaneous abortion in the Markazi province compared to other neighboring provinces and inappropriate establishment of industries and air pollution in the city of Arak, this study was conducted with the aim of assessing the role of industrial air pollution on spontaneous abortion over the 5 preceding years.

Methods: The city of Arak, with polluted air, was considered as the case and Tafresh with clean air was considered as control. The prevalence of having spontaneous abortion over the past 5 years among 400 women aged 15 - 49 years attended to prenatal care clinics was compared between Arak and Tafresh over the first half of the year 1394 (2015) and the role of exposure to air pollution (residing in Arak versus Tafresh) in abortion was assessed after the control of other factors.

Results:The prevalence of spontaneous abortion over the last 5 years was 23.5% in the whole sample. This rate was significantly greater in Arak than the corresponding rate among women who resided in Tafresh (35% vs. 12%, P < 0.001). Multivariate analysis showed that after controlling age, economic status, and history of chronic diseases, living in Arak compared to living in Tafresh increased the odds ratio of spontaneous abortion approximately 4 times (OR = 4.19, P < 0.001).

Conclusions: These results are indicative of the importance of environmental pollutants and their changes including air pollution with population, fertility trends, which require special attention, and appropriate interventions.

Keywords: Air pollution; Miscarriage; Demography; Fertility; Arak