Your stressful morning commute is harming your unborn baby, an analysis of New Jersey birth records has found.
Pregnant women who experience “chronic strain” from long commutes of more than 50 miles are more likely to have low birth weight infants, researchers at Pennsylvania’s Lehigh University say.
In the study published Sunday in the journal Economics & Human Biology, researchers found every 10 miles after 50 miles increased a woman’s chance of having a low weight baby by 14 percent more than the average mother and slowed fetal growth in their baby by 43 per cent.
A low birth weight is defined as under 5.5 pounds.
They were also more likely to miss prenatal check ups compared to women who lived within 10 miles from the office because they had less time.
“The finding that low birth weight might be associated with a source of stress like long-distance commuting is somewhat expected, since chronic strain has been found to be linked to adverse birth outcomes,” Muzhe Yang, Associate Professor of Economics at Pennsylvania’s Lehigh University and co-author of the study, told Medical News.
“However, it was surprising to find an association with under-use of prenatal care among pregnant women commuting long-distance.”
About 2.2 million US workers travel at least 50 miles each way between home and work. About 1.7 million workers spend 90 minutes or more commuting each way.
New Jersey has some of the longest commute times in the US, according to census data, at 31.0 minutes, compared to 25.9 minutes for the rest of the country.
By analyzing 2014 and 2015 birth records collected by the New Jersey Department of Health, researchers found women with commutes of between 50 and 100 miles were also more likely to delay their first trimester checkup or not have one at all.
Yang said the study, the first of its kind into the effects of long commutes during pregnancy, showed the importance of expectant women being given flexible hours.
“Having the needed time off during the prenatal period can be particularly important for pregnant women who are long commuters.”