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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2022 Mar 1.
Published in final edited form as: Environ Int. 2021 Jan 25;148:106378. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2021.106378

Table 5:

Summary of strength of evidence conclusions

Exposure Window Quality of evidence rating1 Direction of effect estimates Confidence in effect estimates Other compelling attributes Strength of evidence rating
PM2.5
1st Trimester Very low Adverse2 Low3 None Inadequate
2nd Trimester Low Adverse2 Low3 None Inadequate
3rd Trimester Low Adverse2 Low3 None Inadequate
Full Pregnancy Low Adverse2 Low3 None Inadequate
PM10
1st Trimester Low Adverse2 Low3 None Inadequate
2nd Trimester Low Adverse2 Low3 None Inadequate
3rd Trimester Moderate Adverse2 Limited4 None Limited
Full Pregnancy Moderate Adverse2 Limited4 None Limited
PM2.5–10
1st Trimester Very low Adverse2 Low3 None Inadequate
2nd Trimester Very low Adverse2 Low3 None Inadequate
3rd Trimester Very low Adverse2 Low3 None Inadequate
Full Pregnancy Low Adverse2 Low3 None Inadequate
1

From Table 4.

2

Decreasing birth weight with increasing exposure is considered an effect in the adverse direction.

3

Results may be due to chance, bias, or confounding, so additional data are likely to alter the results.

4

A credible association is observed, but chance, bias, and confounding cannot be ruled out with reasonable confidence, so additional data could alter the results.