Sponsor
This research was supported by the Intramural Research Program of the National Institutes of Health, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), including funding for the Consortium on Safe Labor (Contract No. HHSN267200603425C) and the Air Quality and Reproductive Health Study (Contract No. HHSN275200800002I, Task Order No. HHSN27500008).
Published In
Environmental Health
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
5-9-2021
Subjects
Air -- Pollution -- Health aspects, Automobiles -- Motors -- Exhaust gas -- Health aspects
Abstract
Background: Asian/Pacific Islander (API) communities in the United States often reside in metropolitan areas with distinct social and environmental attributes. Residence in an ethnic enclave, a socially distinct area, is associated with lower gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) risk, yet exposure to high levels of air pollution, including volatile organic compounds (VOCS), is associated with increased GDM risk. We examined the joint effects of ethnic enclaves and VOCs to better understand GDM risk among API women, the group with the highest prevalence of GDM.
Methods:
We examined 9069 API births in the Consortium on Safe Labor (19 hospitals, 2002–2008). API ethnic enclaves were defined as areas ≥66th percentile for percent API residents, dissimilarity (geographic dispersal of API and White residents), and isolation (degree that API individuals interact with another API individual). High levels of 14 volatile organic compounds (VOC) were defined as ≥75th percentile. Four joint categories were created for each VOC: Low VOC/Enclave (reference group), Low VOC/No Enclave, High VOC/Enclave, High VOC/No Enclave. GDM was reported in medical records. Hierarchical logistic regression estimated odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) between joint exposures and GDM, adjusted for maternal factors and area-level poverty. Risk was estimated for 3-months preconception and first trimester exposures.
Results: Enclave residence was associated with lower GDM risk regardless of VOC exposure. Preconception benzene exposure was associated with increased risk when women resided outside enclaves [High VOC/No Enclave (OR:3.45, 95%CI:1.77,6.72)], and the effect was somewhat mitigated within enclaves, [High VOC/Enclave (OR:2.07, 95%:1.09,3.94)]. Risks were similar for 12 of 14 VOCs during preconception and 10 of 14 during the first trimester. Conclusions API residence in non-enclave areas is associated with higher GDM risk, regardless of VOC level. Ethnic enclave residence may mitigate effects of VOC exposure, perhaps due to lower stress levels. The potential benefit of ethnic enclaves warrants further study.
Rights
© The Author(s). 2021 Open Access
This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made
Locate the Document
DOI
10.1186/s12940-021-00738-7
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/35657
Citation Details
Williams, A. D., Ha, S., Shenassa, E., Messer, L. C., Kanner, J., & Mendola, P. (2021). Joint effects of ethnic enclave residence and ambient volatile organic compounds exposure on risk of gestational diabetes mellitus among Asian/Pacific Islander women in the United States. Environmental Health, 20(1), 56. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12940-021-00738-7