Across the U.S., climate change is significantly linked to serious pregnancy risks, and black women face a higher risk than the general population, a new study shows.
The study, published in JAMA Network Open, involves the analysis of 68 studies based in the U.S. and published in several databases from Jan. 1, 2007 to April 30, 2019. Overall, researchers analyzed data for 32 million births.
Fifty-seven of the 68 studies showed air pollutants and heat exposure were significantly associated with birth outcomes. Researchers found that pregnant women exposed to high weather temperatures or air pollutants had a higher risk of giving birth prematurely, giving birth to an underweight baby or having a stillbirth, the New York Times reports.
Most of the studies that focused on the link between air pollution and preterm birth or low birth weight found that pregnancy risks related to climate change are higher for black mothers.
"We already know that these pregnancy outcomes are worse for black women," study author Rupa Basu, PhD, chief of the air and climate epidemiological section for the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment in California told the Times. "It's even more exacerbated by these exposures."