Rare earth exposure can triple low birthweight risk: Chinese study

A new study finds that prenatal exposure to rare earth elements can raise the risk of low birthweight, with some substances increasing the danger by more than three times.

Researchers tracked 4,891 pregnant women who gave birth at Wuhan Maternal and Child Health Hospital between 2012 and 2014.

They measured the concentration of 13 rare earth elements including cerium, ytterbium, and lanthanum in urine samples collected from the mothers.

After adjusting for confounding factors such as maternal age and body mass index, each 1 microgram per gram increase in a single rare earth element was linked to a 25.6 to 51.4 per cent higher chance of delivering a low birthweight baby.

When the scientists assessed the combined impact of all 13 elements using a weighted quantile sum regression model, the overall risk more than doubled, yielding an odds ratio of 2.004.