A A study of babies hospitalized in New Orleans found that babies born to mothers from southeastern Louisiana neighborhoods with high levels of industrial pollution were four times more likely to suffer from serious congenital heart defects.
Published last week, the study in the journal Environmental Health examined the medical records of 454 infants hospitalized at Louisiana’s two main hospitals that can operate on heart defects in babies. The researchers traced where the mothers of these infants lived, examining levels of industrial toxic pollution in their communities using the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s risk assessment database. Compared to infants from low-pollution areas of the region, the risk of congenital heart defects was 4.3 times higher for infants from toxic hot zones, and 3.1 times higher for infants from places with intermediate pollution levels.
Some of the babies in the study were patients of Dr. Kelly Gajewski, a pediatric cardiologist at Manning Family Children’s Hospital and a professor at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center. “I think the biggest problem is that it’s very anxiety-inducing to have a baby with congenital heart disease,” Gajewski said.
When she moved to Louisiana more than a decade ago, Gajewski expected to see many more cases of serious congenital heart disease in children. “I suspected there was something in this state that was leading to higher rates,” she said. This led her to explore environmental factors as possible contributors to these conditions.
The study shows that the impact of industrial pollution on Louisianans’ health begins in the womb, said lead author Kimberly Terrell, a research scientist with the Environmental Integrity Project. “When we think about really serious health effects, we think about cancer and COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) that come from long-term exposures, but the developmental impacts come from fairly short exposures,” she said. “We know that early pregnancy is the critical window for the development of the heart and also the development of other body systems, so you have this pretty narrow three-month window where it’s really critical to reduce those exposures.”
Researchers looked at infants born from 2018 to 2021 and their mothers’ potential exposure to 20 toxins known to cause adverse health effects during early development, including benzene, formaldehyde and toluene. The study left out cases where the mother smoked, consumed alcohol or suffered from diabetes during pregnancy. “We wanted to focus on births that we expected to be healthy,” Terrell said. “We can say with certainty that this risk is not attributable to smoking, alcohol or diabetes.”
Louisiana has the highest rates of infant mortality and industrial emissions in the United States. Previous studies have linked Louisiana’s toxic air pollution to low birth weights and high cancer rates among black and poor communities. Petrochemical facilities are the state’s largest source of toxic pollution.
Every 15 minutes, a baby is born with a heart defect in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Having a child diagnosed with a serious heart defect can be life-changing, Gajewski said, adding that the parents of some of his patients move to New Orleans to be closer to the hospitals where their children receive care. About 15% of infants born with severe forms of heart defects do not survive their first year of life. Of the 454 babies with heart defects studied, 194 cases were serious and 38 babies died during the study period.
The study team included researchers and hospital medical staff. “Although modern medical care can save the lives of babies born with serious heart defects, almost all of these children will continue to need specialized care and face higher risks of learning disabilities, mental health disorders, heart failure or other organ problems during their lives,” Gajewski said.
The study team suggests that fewer babies in southeast Louisiana would be born with life-threatening heart defects if maternal exposure to industrial pollution was reduced.
“If there is political will, this can happen,” Terrell said.
Gn Health
