{"id":477256,"date":"2022-01-20T11:15:00","date_gmt":"2022-01-20T11:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grist.org\/?p=558069"},"modified":"2022-01-20T11:15:00","modified_gmt":"2022-01-20T11:15:00","slug":"climate-change-linked-to-early-birth-and-damage-to-babies-health-scientists-find","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2022\/01\/20\/climate-change-linked-to-early-birth-and-damage-to-babies-health-scientists-find\/","title":{"rendered":"Climate change linked to early birth and damage to babies\u2019 health, scientists find"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This <\/em>story<\/em><\/a> was originally published by the Guardian<\/a> and is reproduced here as part of the<\/em> Climate Desk<\/em><\/a> collaboration.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The climate crisis is damaging the health of fetuses, babies, and infants across the world, six new studies have found.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scientists discovered increased heat was linked to fast weight gain in babies, which increases the risk of obesity in later life. Higher temperatures were also linked to premature birth, which can have lifelong health effects, and to increased hospital admissions of young children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other studies found exposure to smoke from wildfires doubled the risk of severe birth defects, while reduced fertility was linked to air pollution from fossil fuel burning, even at low levels. The studies, published in a special issue of the journal Pediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology<\/a>, spanned the globe from the United States to Denmark, Israel, and Australia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFrom the very beginning, from preconception, through early childhood into adolescence, we\u2019re starting to see important impacts of climate hazards on health,\u201d said Gregory Wellenius, who edited the issue with Amelia Wesselink, both professors at the Boston University School of Public Health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is a problem that affects everybody, everywhere. These extreme events are going to become even more likely and more severe with continued climate change [and this research shows] why they\u2019re important to us, not in the future, but today.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The link between heat and rapid weight gain in the first year of life<\/a> was found by scientists in Israel. They analyzed 200,000 births and found that babies exposed to the highest 20 percent of night-time temperatures had a 5 percent higher risk of fast weight gain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The work has \u201cimportant implications for both climate change and the obesity epidemic,\u201d the researchers, from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, said, because infancy is critical in determining adult weight and because obese people may suffer more in extreme heat. \u201cIt\u2019s an interesting hypothesis that\u2019s very much worth following up,\u201d Wellenius said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Globally, 18 percent of children are now overweight or obese. A possible mechanism for the rapid infant weight gain is that less fat is burned to maintain body temperature when the ambient temperature is higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A California study found a mother\u2019s exposure to wildfires in the month before conception doubled the risk of a birth defect<\/a> called gastroschisis<\/a>, where a baby\u2019s intestines and sometimes other organs protrude out of the body through a small hole in the skin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The scientists examined two million births, 40 percent of them to mothers living within 15 miles of a wildfire and the resulting air pollution, which was already known to be harmful<\/a> to pregnant people and their fetuses<\/a>. They found a 28 percent rise in the risk of the birth defect in mothers living close to wildfires in the first trimester of pregnancy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fetal gastroschisis is rare \u2013 there are about 2,000 cases a year in the U.S. But cases are rising worldwide. \u201cHuman exposure to wildfires is anticipated to increase in coming decades,\u201d said Bo Young Park, at California State University. \u201cTherefore, a thorough understanding of the negative health outcomes associated with wildfires is critical.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two new studies examined the link between high temperatures and premature birth. The first assessed almost one million pregnant people<\/a> in New South Wales, Australia, from 2005 to 2014, of whom 3 percent delivered their babies before 37 weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The researchers found that those in the hottest 5 percent of places in the state in the week before birth had a 16 percent higher risk of premature birth. Previous research had found a similar effect in the warmer sub-tropical city of Brisbane<\/a>, but this was the first in a more temperate region of Australia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe risk of [premature] birth is likely to increase with the expected increase in global temperatures and heatwaves \u2013 this is a potentially serious concern,\u201d said the researchers, led by Edward Jegasothy at the University of Sydney.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second study<\/a> analyzed 200,000 births from 2007-2011 in Harris County, Texas \u2013 which includes Houston \u2013 where people are accustomed to heat. The period included Texas\u2019s hottest summer on record in 2011.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A quarter of the mothers were exposed to at least one very hot day while pregnant, days when temperature reached the top 1 percent of historic summer temperatures. The risk of any premature birth was 15 percent higher the day after these very hot days, the scientists found. But the risk was even higher for especially early births, tripling for babies born before 28 weeks, and was also higher for the most disadvantaged 20 percent of the mothers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPublic health warnings during heatwaves should include pregnant people, especially given our finding of stronger associations earlier in gestation when the consequences of preterm birth are more severe,\u201d said the researchers, led by Lara Cushing, at the University of California, Los Angeles. How heat triggers premature births is not known but it may be because of the release of labor-inducing hormones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This new research adds weight to a 2020 review of 68 studies<\/a>, comprising 34 million births, that linked heat and air pollution to higher risks of premature birth, low birth weight, and stillbirth. Bruce Bekkar, an author of the review and retired obstetrician, said: \u201cWe are already having generations weakened from birth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wellenius said: \u201cEven moderate levels of heat can affect the developing fetus, pregnancy complications, and children and adolescents. Although the risk to an individual is modest, because so many people are exposed, the total number of excess events, whether they be premature births or deaths, is substantial.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hotter temperatures also increased the number of admissions of young children to emergency departments<\/a> in New York City, another new study found. The scientists looked at 2.5 million admissions over eight years and found that a 12.6 degrees Fahrenheit rise in maximum temperature led to a 2.4 percent increase in admissions in under-fives. Young children lose proportionally more fluids than adults and their ability to regulate their body temperature is immature, the researchers said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The burning of fossil fuels drives the climate crisis but also causes air pollution and a new study in Denmark assessed the impact of dirty air on 10,000 couples trying to conceive naturally. It found that increases in particle pollution of a few units during a menstrual cycle led to a decrease in conception of about 8 percent<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A recent study in China<\/a> also found that air pollution significantly increased the risk of infertility, but the average pollution level was more than five times higher than in the Danish study. \u201cAir pollution [in Denmark] was low and almost entirely at levels deemed safe by the European Union,\u201d said Wesselink. \u201cCurrent standards may be insufficient to protect against adverse reproductive health effects.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wellenius said an important aspect of the studies was that they showed that vulnerable people often suffered the worst effects, for example people of color and those on low incomes who did not have air conditioning or lived in areas with higher air pollution. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is absolutely a health equity and justice issue,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

This story was originally published by Grist<\/a> with the headline Climate change linked to early birth and damage to babies\u2019 health, scientists find<\/a> on Jan 20, 2022.<\/p>\n

This post was originally published on Grist<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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