In France, experts estimate that, each year, 60,000 babies are in a hurry to see the light of day, or about 8% of births. However, we know: prematurity is bad for a baby’s health. According to various studies, newborns arrived early would be more likely than others to suffer autism, hyperactivity, school difficulties.
According to another study conducted by the American Institutes of Health (NIH), expectant mothers exposed to extreme temperatures during their pregnancy (whether it is intense cold or suffocating heat like the one we are currently experiencing) would have more risk of giving birth prematurely, that is to say before the 35th week of pregnancy or the 37th week of amenorrhea.
Heatwave or polar temperatures?
To arrive at this conclusion, the scientists studied the 223,375 medical records of pregnant women followed in 12 American maternity hospitals, and compared them with the meteorological records during their pregnancy. They also took into account the duration of exposure to temperature extremes and other factors, such as alcohol and tobacco consumption.
Verdict? When the pregnant woman had been exposed to heatwave period or hot weather during her pregnancy, she had between 6% and 21% of additional risks to give birth prematurely. Conversely, when the pregnant woman encountered very cold temperatures during the first 7 weeks of pregnancy, the risk of prematurity was 20%.
“Our work indicates that we must be very careful when minimizing the effects of extreme temperatures during pregnancy”, comments Pauline Mendola, epidemiologist at the NIH and responsible for this work, published in the specialized journal Environmental Health Perspectives. A problem that is likely to grow with the global warming.
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