Air Pollution and Perinatal Health in the Eastern Mediterranean Region: Challenges, Limitations, and the Potential of Epigenetics.

Purpose Of Review: Even though the burden of disease attributable to air pollution is high in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR), the number of studies linking environmental exposures to negative health outcomes remains scarce and limited in scope. This review aims to assess the literature on exposure to air pollutants and perinatal health in the EMR and to explain the potential of epigenetics in exploring the processes behind adverse birth outcomes.

Recent Findings: In the last three decades, hundreds of studies and publications tackled the health effects of air pollution on birth outcomes and early life development, but only a small number of these studies was conducted in the EMR.