Environment and Pregnancy

Dear Colleagues,

The environment can have important effects on the evolution of a pregnancy, in terms of maternal and fetal health. The effects of certain environmental pollutants, such as cigarette smoke and atmospheric pollution, are very well known. We are currently witnessing an increase of data and evidence regarding the effects that other environmental factors may have during pregnancy. These include acoustic pollution, environmental temperature, fine particulate matter (PM 2.5), antibiotics, polybrominated biphenyl, and plastic particles, among others. All these factors may be correlated to preterm birth, low birth weight and fetal death. 
Furthermore, there is evidence that contact with nature may have beneficial effects on the human organism, such as an increase of maternal and fetal health during pregnancy. 
Environmental elements may have important effects on pregnancy, potentially determining the variation of an individual’s development through numerous biological and epigenetic mechanisms. All of this represents one of the most fascinating topics of modern midwifery. The emerging understanding of the importance of environmental factors in relation to the future of an individual may be interpreted in a proactive manner. 
From a health perspective, such a view could render one open to the vast phenotypic plasticity in question. Pregnancy is certainly a window of opportunity, seeing as women are particularly sensitive to their child’s outcome and therefore more inclined and open to changes. Bearing in mind that the environment can influence pregnancy can help one understand how to apply such knowledge to optimally shape mother’s and newborn’s wellbeing. 
There is an urgent need to improve global knowledge in this arena. In this Special Issue, we seek to advance this field by welcoming original, clinical, and basic research articles, as well as meta-analyses and systematic reviews focusing on the relationship between environment and pregnancy. We will be grateful to receive your submissions.

Dr. Antonio Ragusa, Dr. Alessandro Svelato and Dr. Caterina De Luca

Guest Editors

Manuscripts should be submitted via our online editorial system at https://imr.propub.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to start your submission. Manuscripts can be submitted now or up until the deadline. All papers will go through peer-review process. Accepted papers will be published in the journal (as soon as accepted) and meanwhile listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, reviews as well as short communications are preferred. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office to announce on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts will be thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. Please visit the Instruction for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) in this open access journal is 1500 USD. Submitted manuscripts should be well formatted in good English.