Extreme heat may increase risk of pregnancy complications
Extreme heat has been linked to a range of pregnancy complications such as pre-eclampsia, low birth weight, and fetal abnormalities, according to experts quoted in a May 14 Time article. Climate change is predicted to make the problem worse as extreme heat days increase around the globe.
Pregnant women and their fetuses are particularly vulnerable to extreme heat, Shruthi Mahalingaiah, associate professor of environmental, reproductive, and women’s health at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, said in the article. “This is because the pregnant woman’s body is already undergoing vast changes to accommodate supporting a fetus, and it’s harder to regulate and especially cool the fetal environment to a healthy range.”
In addition, she said, “The fetus doesn’t have its own capacity to regulate its temperature, and we know that [much of] the development of the fetal organs [is] temperature sensitive.”
Mahalingaiah said that more research is needed to understand how climate change is impacting pregnancies and fetal development.
Read the Time article
How Climate Change Is Impacting People’s Ability to Have Healthy Pregnancies
