Exposure to violence and socioeconomic deprivation in susceptibility to nitrogen dioxide on term infant birthweight in New York City

We found significantly lower term-infant birthweights with higher NO₂ or community stressors. Counter to hypotheses, however, in communities with very high stressor exposures (esp. violent crimes), despite lower overall birthweights, associations for NO₂ were weaker than in low-stressor communities. Our results suggest a possible saturation effect in stress-pollution interactions, wherein very high stressor exposures appear to overwhelm any effects of pollution. In addition, we observed stronger effects for violent crimes, in relation to other social stressors.