Environmental and reproductive health: A spatial analysis of adverse birth outcomes and environmental contaminants in British Columbia.

Exposure to contaminants during pregnancy is associated with certain adverse birth outcomes that require further investigation. Community reproductive and environmental health risk maps were produced utilizing birth data obtained from the B.C. Perinatal Health Program and environmental contaminant data from the National Pollutant Release inventory and other national and provincial sources. Geographical information systems (GIS) were utilized to spatially relate perinatal and environmental hazard data, and the risk of adverse birth outcomes was tested using watersheds as the ecological aggregation unit adjusting for individual-level risk factors. The perinatal data included birth outcomes (low birth weight, prematurity, inter-uterine growth restriction, congenital anomalies, stillbirths) and numerous maternal and antenatal risk factor data for all singleton births in B.C. from 2001 to 2006. Small but significant increased risks of adverse birth outcomes were found in high and intermediate hazard watersheds compared to low hazard watersheds. This suggests a possible environmental effect on these reproductive outcomes, however, further studies are needed to corroborate these results. --P.ii.