Conclusions
Our study findings indicate that, at PM10 levels below current air quality standards, prenatal exposure to particulate air pollution reduces birth weight and increases the risk of babies being small for gestational age, not only among infants born at term, but even more strongly among babies born between 32 and 36 weeks of pregnancy. Assuming causality, 24% of moderately preterm SGA newborns and 13% of term SGA newborns could be prevented if average PM10 exposure during pregnancy was decreased to20 mg/m3.