Extreme heat linked to climate change may adversely affect pregnancy

From Eurekalert

Public Release: 8-Aug-2017

George Washington University

WASHINGTON, DC (Aug. 8, 2017) — Pregnant women are an important but thus far largely overlooked group vulnerable to the effects of extreme heat linked to climate change, according to new research by Sabrina McCormick, PhD, an Associate Professor of Environmental and Occupational Health at Milken Institute School of Public Health at the George Washington University.

“Expecting mothers are an important group whose unique vulnerability to heat stress should be factored into public health policy,” says McCormick, who has been studying the impacts of climate change on human health for over a decade, and served as the lead author on the Special Assessment of the Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. “Exposure to extreme heat can harm both pregnant mothers and their babies, especially in situations where the expectant mother has limited access to prenatal care.”

McCormick and Leeann Kuehn, a recent GW MPH alumna concurrently studying to be a physician’s assistant, conducted the most extensive systematic review to date of research articles that identify how heat-related exposures result in adverse health effects for pregnant women. They followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guide to identify and systematically review articles from PubMed and Cochrane Reviews on climate change-related exposures and adverse health effects for pregnant women.

The studies that McCormick and Kuehn identified provide evidence that exposure to temperature extremes can adversely impact birth outcomes, including changes in length of gestation, birth weight, stillbirth, and neonatal stress during unusually hot temperatures.

“Our study indicates that there is a need for further research on the ways that climate change, and heat in particular, affect maternal health and neonatal outcomes,” McCormick says. “The research also shows that uniform standards for assessing the effects of heat on maternal fetal health need to be established.”

“Heat Exposure and Maternal Health in the Face of Climate Change” is published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.

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About Milken Institute School of Public Health at the George Washington University: Established in July 1997 as the School of Public Health and Health Services, Milken Institute School of Public Health is the only school of public health in the nation’s capital. Today, more than 1,900 students from 54 U.S. states and territories and more than 50 countries pursue undergraduate, graduate and doctoral-level degrees in public health. The school also offers an online Master of Public Health, MPH@GW, an online Executive Master of Health Administration, MHA@GW, and an online Master of Science in Management of Health Informatics and Analytics, HealthInformatics@GW, which allow students to pursue their degree from anywhere in the world.

Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.

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August 9, 2017 6:05 pm

Bunk.

Louis Hooffstetter
Reply to  John
August 9, 2017 7:25 pm

Yep.
Hence the weasel wording disclaimer at the end of the article.

Bryan A
Reply to  Louis Hooffstetter
August 10, 2017 10:16 am

Though Temperatures DO have a direct effect on Gender in many reptiles. As their eggs incubate in the ground, if they are mildly warmed, they develop more males but if they are either Colder or Warmer they develope more females. I guess Nature already knows that at times of potential stress, species have a better survivability with more females being born (the males enjoy it better too)

Kurt
Reply to  John
August 10, 2017 2:15 am

You guys are missing the point – this is nothing more than one of those “can we have a cut of the cash cow, too” papers:
“Our study indicates that there is a need for further research on the ways that climate change, and heat in particular, affect maternal health and neonatal outcomes,” McCormick says. “The research also shows that uniform standards for assessing the effects of heat on maternal fetal health need to be established.”
You needn’t treat it as any kind of serious scientific endeavor.

Duncan
Reply to  Kurt
August 10, 2017 5:18 am

McCormick and Leeann Kuehn, a recent GW MPH alumna concurrently studying to be a physician’s assistant, conducted the most extensive systematic review to date of research

Kurt – “Most systematic review to date”, sounds serious to me.

Kurt
Reply to  Kurt
August 10, 2017 5:21 pm

And unfortunately, as long as it sounds serious, it probably will land them the money they want.

george e. smith
Reply to  John
August 11, 2017 7:52 am

Extreme Temperatures, simply determine how much time one spends in bed.
Yes it does have a major effect on pregnancy.
g

getitright
Reply to  John
August 11, 2017 12:58 pm

“The studies that McCormick and Kuehn identified provide evidence that exposure to temperature extremes can adversely impact birth outcomes, including changes in length of gestation, birth weight, stillbirth, and neonatal stress during unusually hot temperatures.”
That’s why the birth rates are so low in the tropical heat soaked third world…..

Tsk Tsk
August 9, 2017 6:06 pm

Explains why South/Southeast Asia is nearly devoid of people…

Duncan
Reply to  Tsk Tsk
August 9, 2017 6:57 pm

For the win!!!!

MRW
Reply to  Tsk Tsk
August 9, 2017 7:00 pm

Ditto the continent of Africa, which contains countries with the highest fertility rates worldwide.

george e. smith
Reply to  MRW
August 11, 2017 7:53 am

If you don’t have finger toys, what else can you do in your spare time ??
g

marque2
Reply to  Tsk Tsk
August 10, 2017 4:42 am

It is interesting that countries with lots of air conditioning seem to be having a problem with sustainable birthrate – and those that don’t seem to have huge population growth. Maybe she got the study backwards.

J.H.
August 9, 2017 6:16 pm

Well then… India and Indonesia must have very low populations indeed, if heat adversely effected pregnancy?…. Seeing that they’re in th’ tropics an’ all.
What! They don’t? Those countries have some of the highest population densities in the world…..How can that be? Our climate Scientists say there should be no people there….. Oh, it’s a travesty.

MarkW
Reply to  J.H.
August 10, 2017 6:48 am

IF the data doesn’t fit the model, you must adjust the data.

george e. smith
Reply to  J.H.
August 11, 2017 7:55 am

Look at all the people in Antarctica.
G

juandos
August 9, 2017 6:22 pm

Oh my! What did pregnant women do before the advent of air conditioning?

Walter Sobchak
Reply to  juandos
August 10, 2017 7:57 am

Complained that it is too hot. Now they complain that it is too cold.

August 9, 2017 6:26 pm

There is such a low birth rate in Central Africa and Southeast Asia and India. . .

August 9, 2017 6:26 pm

That’s very bad news. i hope they can come up with a solution to this problem other than reducing fossil fuel emissions because there is no evidence to relate warming to emissions.
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3000932

Peter
August 9, 2017 6:27 pm

This goes way back to the old colonial days. It was justification for why Europeans were considered superior, it was because they came from cold places.
Having lived most of my life in the Tropics, with kids reared in the oppressive heat – now completing there first post graduate qualifications, this is rubbish.
This is why science is losing people’s trust.

Reply to  Peter
August 10, 2017 8:27 am

We could also ask which parts of the USA are losing population and which are gaining population: the north or the south?

Ray Boorman
August 9, 2017 6:31 pm

Sarcasm is too good to waste on this ugly bowl of tripe.

observa
August 9, 2017 6:32 pm

So CAGW should really please all the rabid Greens then? Saves blowing up the kiddies or throwing them off skyscrapers with the polar bears and then drinking the Koolaid by all accounts.

Janice Moore
August 9, 2017 6:33 pm

Because

extreme heat linked to climate change**

has never been observed,
this article is (in addition to the slam-dunk reasons given above)
JUNK.
**Note: “climate change” is almost always used in common useage to mean “human-caused climate change.”

oeman50
Reply to  Janice Moore
August 10, 2017 7:55 am

I thought the increase in the average global temperature has been attributed largely to increased nighttime temperatures, which are lower than the daytime highs. Explain to me again how this affects pregnancy?

Janice Moore
Reply to  Janice Moore
August 9, 2017 6:45 pm

Just FYI for mod: I tested both images and both APPEAR on the Test thread.

Reply to  Janice Moore
August 9, 2017 7:19 pm

You’ve got “2.” and “3.” on the lines. Don’t the images have to be on their own line to show up?

Reply to  Janice Moore
August 9, 2017 8:02 pm

Like this? 4:comment image

Janice Moore
Reply to  Janice Moore
August 9, 2017 8:22 pm

Well. Two outta three ain’t bad. Heh.
THANK YOU, ERIC! You were right! (what in the world happened with the leprechaun….. *magic* I guess, lol)

Reply to  Janice Moore
August 9, 2017 9:18 pm

comment image

Janice Moore
Reply to  Janice Moore
August 10, 2017 6:34 am

🙂

Ted
Reply to  Janice Moore
August 10, 2017 2:37 am

Both 1 and 3 have been very profitable for the organizations that control them. Number 2 has also been used quite a bit for advertising, but it doesn’t have the same level of exclusivity, so it’s more spread the wealth.
Side note – remember when Disney used to re-release movies every eights years to get the next wave of kids/new parents? Sleeping Beauty was in theaters four times from 1970 to 1995.

August 9, 2017 6:52 pm

CafeNetAmerica‏ @cafenetamerica 8h8 hours ago
Meteorologist Bastardi: Earth has cooled since Gore’s first film in 2006:comment image

Janice Moore
Reply to  Eric Simpson
August 9, 2017 6:56 pm

Lol. Good one.

george e. smith
Reply to  Janice Moore
August 14, 2017 8:56 am

Typical fake news graph.
The tips of those spikey black lines are the actual data; well NO not the actual thermometric readings, but the difference between the thermometer readings, and some equally fake news base line that was faked up years ago; maybe sometime between 1981 and 2010.
Remember that there is not one scintilla of scientific evidence that the earth’s Temperature is some single number that stays the same always.
It is SUPPOSED TO CHANGE from day to day, week to week, month to month and year to year. It’s called …. WEATHER ….
As for the red curve; there is no assurance that any point on that line was ever observed by anybody; it has no physical meaning whatsoever; just for the amusement of statisticians, as Dr. Roy used to put it of his polynomial curve fits.
What is the good of having an Internationally recognized Absolute Temperature scale if people won’t use it for reporting Temperatures.
G

Reply to  Eric Simpson
August 10, 2017 4:53 am

I did not realize the Gore Effect also operated over decadal time scales!

marque2
Reply to  Eric Simpson
August 10, 2017 4:54 am

Al Gore caused the world to cool. Thank you Al Gore. Obama caused the seas to lower – thank you Obama. These two are miracle workers of biblical proportions! (end sarcasm is case you didn’t pick that up)

Ric Haldane
August 9, 2017 7:00 pm

In the future, children will be grown from seeds just like they grow those tree shaped smelly things that you hang on your rear view mirror to make your car smell like………

August 9, 2017 7:00 pm

Perhaps the widespread stupidity that we see everywhere these days is linked to Global Warming too.

LarryD
August 9, 2017 7:04 pm

We need to ship these “scientists” to um, Ecuador to confirm this “study”.

Louis Hooffstetter
Reply to  LarryD
August 9, 2017 7:28 pm

Ship them to the middle of the Sahara Desert and leave them there.

RobbertBobbert
August 9, 2017 7:09 pm

…The school also offers an online Master of Public Health, MPH, an online Executive Master of Health Administration, MHA, and an online Master of Science in Management of Health Informatics and Analytics, HealthInformatics
So students who are interested in the health industry but cannot, for some reason, study to become an actual Doctor or Nurse get passes in Public Health Areas.
The important question is …Does Mickey Mouse himself turn up and pass out the certificates on graduation day?

August 9, 2017 7:49 pm

We are being flooded by a series of “what if?” reports allegedly related to climate change issues. These reports a priori accept the premise that climate change is human-induced and due to the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and bodes trouble for mankind. The premise itself is the issue in question. Until that issue is resolved, studies of the possible human effects of climate change are pointless and a waste of resources. Research on a predicated hypothesis is based on an illusion.
Some physicists (most recently President Rosenbaum of Caltech) now posit that nature cannot be modeled with Newtonian physics but possibly might be modeled with quantum physics. The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in December 2016 predicted a century of non-warming in which CO2 does not play a significant role. CERN concludes that climate models used by the United Nations Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to estimate future temperatures are too high and that the models should be redone. The CERN models are driven by quantum physics.
Focusing research on untested hypotheses to prepare for an event with a very small likelihood of occurring is the wrong research, and policies stemming from that research are the wrong policies. The “results” from such research stimulate baseless scare-mongering. Get the science right first, and the right policies will follow. Make America right again!
These often-quoted thoughts have merit.
Anon: “The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance; it is the illusion of knowledge”.
Anon: “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it”.

TA
August 9, 2017 8:04 pm

“Pregnant women are an important but thus far largely overlooked group vulnerable to the effects of extreme heat linked to climate change”
What extreme heat?

TA
Reply to  TA
August 10, 2017 4:27 am

Here it is raining in Oklahoma in the middle of August, with a temperature in the low 80’s and with rain forcast for the next 10 days.
Normally, about 90 percent of the time, at this time of year in Oklahoma the temperatures are running at or above 100 degrees and it has not rained since June. Right now it is pleasant temperatures and the grass is still green. From the heart of the Dustbowl we ask “what extreme heat?”.
We had a tornado touch down in Tulsa Oklahoma on Sunday which is not normal for this time of year, and the reporters made a big deal out of the fact that a tornado had not touch down in August in Tulsa since 1958, although thankfully, they were not trying to tie it into CAGW.
Well, the reason we don’t normally have tornadoes in August in Oklahoma is because usually we are baking under oppressive heat which prevents storm systems from moving through the area, and you can’t have a tornado without a storm system moving through. So that’s how unusual this mild summer is in Oklahoma.
The world, not just Oklahoma, seems to be cooling off a little bit, going by all the anectdotal reports we have had on this website. It is certainly cooler and milder here where I live.

Sheri
Reply to  TA
August 10, 2017 10:08 am

It’s 59 degrees here in Casper, Wyoming and raining. We have been below average since August began. July, on the other hand, was above average all month. Averages really don’t mean much, do they?

The Original Mike M
August 9, 2017 9:06 pm
Dr. S. Jeevananda Reddy
August 9, 2017 9:15 pm

When people migrate from colder zones to warmer zones or at the same place in winter and in summer and in rainy season, any such phenomena was recorded as a proof to support the theory as the so-called global warming is insignificant so far? Astrology says something on the personality traits of a person born under under different signs.
Dr. S. Jeevananda Reddy

outtheback
August 9, 2017 10:12 pm

did I read that right, this was from the Milk’em Institute

August 9, 2017 10:30 pm

“Exposure to extreme heat can harm both pregnant mothers and their babies, especially in situations where the expectant mother has limited access to prenatal care.”

Perhaps we should ask this to be factored in the following campaign

waterside4
August 9, 2017 10:38 pm

Please moderator, could you put one of those warnings on this sort of nonsense so that I do not injure myself laughing.
You know like colleges put on books and things so as not to upset snowflakes?
Maybe an asterisk at the top , and stating “the following” is pure unadulterated dudes”
Thanks.

John V. Wright
August 9, 2017 10:39 pm

Head-shakingly stupid – but, needless to say, “further research is needed”. Got to keep these ‘researchers’ supplied with new cars, nice houses and holidays abroad. Meanwhile, all around them, working men and women are actually contributing positively to the wealth and wellbeing of their communities.

waterside4
August 9, 2017 10:39 pm

“Duuda”