{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,15]],"date-time":"2025-10-15T17:59:04Z","timestamp":1760551144503,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":26,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"10","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,5,21]],"date-time":"2020-05-21T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1590019200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100003196","name":"Ministero della Salute","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["RF-2011-02352442"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["RF-2011-02352442"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100003196","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJERPH"],"abstract":"<jats:p>In Italy, few multicentre population-based studies on pregnancy outcomes are available. Therefore, we established a network of population-based birth cohorts in the cities of Turin, Reggio Emilia, Modena, Bologna, and Rome (northern and central Italy), to study the role of socioeconomic factors and air pollution exposure on term low birthweight, preterm births and the prevalence of small for gestational age. In this article, we will report the full methodology of the study and the first descriptive results. We linked 2007\u20132013 delivery certificates with municipal registry data and hospital records, and selected singleton livebirths from women who lived in the cities for the entire pregnancy, resulting in 211,853 births (63% from Rome, 21% from Turin and the remaining 16% from the three cities in Emilia-Romagna Region). We have observed that the association between socioeconomic characteristics and air pollution exposure varies by city and pollutant, suggesting a possible effect modification of both the city and the socioeconomic position on the impact of air pollution on pregnancy outcomes. This is the largest Italian population-based birth cohort, not distorted by selection mechanisms, which has also the advantage of being sustainable over time and easily transferable to other areas. Results from the ongoing multivariable analyses will provide more insight on the relative impact of different strands of risk factors and on their interaction, as well as on the modifying effect of the contextual characteristics. Useful recommendations for strategies to prevent adverse pregnancy outcomes may eventually derive from this study.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph17103614","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,5,21]],"date-time":"2020-05-21T11:31:18Z","timestamp":1590060678000},"page":"3614","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":4,"title":["An Italian Network of Population-Based Birth Cohorts to Evaluate Social and Environmental Risk Factors on Pregnancy Outcomes: The LEAP Study"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Teresa","family":"Spadea","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Epidemiology, ASL TO3 Piedmont Region, 10095 Grugliasco (TO), Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Barbara","family":"Pacelli","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Regional Health and Social Care Agency, Emilia-Romagna Region, 40127 Bologna, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Andrea","family":"Ranzi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre for Environmental Health and Prevention, Regional Agency for Prevention, Environment and Energy of Emilia-Romagna, 40127 Bologna, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Claudia","family":"Galassi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Unit of Clinical Epidemiology, Citt\u00e0 della Salute e della Scienza University Hospital and Centre for Cancer Prevention (CPO), 10126 Turin, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Raffaella","family":"Rusciani","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Epidemiology, ASL TO3 Piedmont Region, 10095 Grugliasco (TO), Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Moreno","family":"Demaria","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Regional Environmental Protection Agency, Piedmont, 10135 Turin, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Nicola","family":"Caranci","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Regional Health and Social Care Agency, Emilia-Romagna Region, 40127 Bologna, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Paola","family":"Michelozzi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Epidemiology\u2014Lazio Regional Health Service, ASL Roma 1, 00147 Roma, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2919-4641","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Francesco","family":"Cerza","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Epidemiology\u2014Lazio Regional Health Service, ASL Roma 1, 00147 Roma, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Marina","family":"Davoli","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Epidemiology\u2014Lazio Regional Health Service, ASL Roma 1, 00147 Roma, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Francesco","family":"Forastiere","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute for Biomedical Research and Innovation, National Research Council, 90146 Palermo, Italy"},{"name":"Science Policy &amp; Epidemiology, King\u2019s College, London SE1 9NH, UK"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Giulia","family":"Cesaroni","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Epidemiology\u2014Lazio Regional Health Service, ASL Roma 1, 00147 Roma, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,5,21]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"194","DOI":"10.1046\/j.1365-3016.2000.00266.x","article-title":"Socio-economic disparities in pregnancy outcomes: Why do the poor fare so poorly?","volume":"14","author":"Kramer","year":"2000","journal-title":"Paediatr. 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