Seasonal Ambient Air Pollution Correlates Strongly with Spontaneous Abortion in Mongolia

Air pollution is a major public health challenge in Mongolia and has been strongly associated with adverse reproductive health. This study aimed to examine the relationship between
spontaneous abortion and seasonal variation of air pollutants in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. The study examined medical records of 1219 women admitted to the hospital due to spontaneous
abortion between 2009–2011. Fetal deaths per calendar month from January-December, 2011 were counted and correlated with mean monthly levels of various air pollutants by means of
regression analysis.

The results suggested statistically significant significant dose–response correlations for SO 2 (r > 0.9) (p < 0.001) while similarly strongly significant correlation coefficients were found for NO 2 (r > 0.8), CO (r > 0.9), PM 10 (r > 0.9) and PM 2.5 (r > 0.8), (p < 0.001), indicating a strong correlation between air pollution and decreased fetal well being. Further studies need to be done to examine possible correlations between personal exposure to air pollutants and pregnancy loss.