Extreme heat while pregnant could lead to preterm births, but green spaces might help

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2024-02-27 03:00

Australia; VIC

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Australian researchers have found a link between being exposed to extreme heat while pregnant and the likelihood of having a preterm birth, but being around green spaces or greenness in general might mitigate the negative effects of the heat. The researchers investigated over 1.2 million babies born in Sydney and say extreme heat exposure during the third trimester had the strongest link to having a preemie, but by looking at how green the areas in which these women were living, the team say these associations could be somewhat mitigated by living in a greener area. While this kind of study cannot directly say that being really hot during your pregnancy is going to lead you to an early birth, the researchers still suggest that we should plan our urban areas around more green areas.

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From: JAMA

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Journal/
conference: JAMA Pediatrics

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Monash University

Funder: This study was supported in part by grant DP210102076 from the Australian Research Council and grant GNT2000581 from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) of Australia, grant 201906320051 from the China Scholarship Council (Ms Ye), grants GNT1163693 and GNT2008813 from the NHMRC (Dr Guo), and grant GNT2009866 from the NHMRC (Dr Li).

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