Air pollution fills the air in the 9th and 9th neighborhood behind “Out of the Blue,” a public artwork by Stephen Kesler, in Salt Lake City on Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)
New research from the University of Utah suggests ozone pollution, which is prevalent in Utah, can have an impact on unborn children, leading to an increase in intellectual disabilities.
In a peer reviewed study published last month in the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology, researchers found a “strong link” between exposure to ozone among pregnant mothers, and their children developing an intellectual disability.
Northern Utah often experiences poor air quality due to ozone pollution, which happens when nitrogen oxides react with volatile organic compounds, often called VOCs, according to the EPA. Essentially, when pollutants from cars, refineries, boilers and other sources of emissions react to sunlight and hot temperatures, ground-level ozone forms.
Ozone pollution tends to be most unhealthy during summer months, visible as low-lying haze in the populated valleys along the Wasatch Front. According to the American Lung Association, the urban stretch between Provo and Salt Lake City had the ninth worst ozone pollution in the country in 2024.
And as Utah summers continue to be plagued by record-breaking heat, that ozone pollution could worsen.
The federal government’s health standards for “ambient ozone concentrations,” according to the study, is 70 parts per billion, which is often exceeded in Utah. Researchers found that during the second trimester of pregnancy, an increase in 10 parts per billion is associated with a 55.3% higher likelihood of an intellectual disability when compared to the child’s siblings, and a 22.8% increase when compared to the general population.
Researchers analyzed data from children born with intellectual disabilities between 2003 to 2014 — based on the where they were born and where the mother lived during her pregnancy, they were able to calculate the mother’s exposure to ozone pollution, cross referencing that with data from the children’s siblings and population controls.
The second trimester is when the fetal brain experiences rapid growth, and the study suggests ozone can interfere with that growth, leading to lifelong disabilities. A person has an intellectual disability if they have an IQ below 70 or have limited conceptual, social or practical skills (skills that are required to work, live and play in a community), according to the American Association of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.
“The body of evidence suggests that it is important that we never take our foot off the gas in terms of working to reduce the levels of air pollution that Utahns are breathing,” said Sara Grineski, a sociology professor and research leader at the University of Utah. “We don’t want to neglect these issues related to ozone and cognitive health moving forward. Our findings here for Utah suggest a troubling association. This is just one study in a sea of papers documenting the harmful effects of air pollution on health.”
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