More than a decade of overwhelming evidence links air pollution and heat exposure with negative pregnancy outcomes in the United States, according to a new review of dozens of studies.
More than a decade of overwhelming evidence links air pollution and heat exposure with negative pregnancy outcomes in the United States, according to a new review of dozens of studies. The investigation, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, identified 57 studies since 2007 showing a significant association between the two factors and the risk of pre-term birth, low birth weight, and stillbirth.
Black mothers were particularly at risk, as were people with asthma.
The review analyzed 32 million births tracked across 68 studies. Of those, 84 percent found air pollution and heat to be risk factors.
Human-caused climate disturbances are forcing temperatures higher, raising humidity, and reducing people’s ability to cool off even at night. Climate change also makes air pollution worse. Smog from the burning of fossil fuels forms on hot days. And wildfires that cause smoke inhalation are exacerbated by the crisis.
Read more at Yale Environment 360
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