High heat can shorten pregnancy time, according to US researchers, who say climate change is affecting more and more women.
Infants' health is influenced by many things, but early birth is an important factor that is later shown to be related to newborn health and childhood mental outcomes, according to the journal Nature Climate Change.
Earlier studies have already linked heat to shorter pregnancy, but the cause could not be determined, said Alan Barreca, a researcher at the University of California and Jessamyn Schaller, a researcher at Claremont McKenna College.
Scientists analyzed 56 million births between 1969 and 1988. Hot days reduced pregnancy by an average of seven days.
The calculation was based on the daily birth rate. The researchers compared a day with a daily peak temperature of 32.3 degrees Celsius and the same day of other years. The peak points were 15.6 and 21.1 degrees Celsius respectively.
According to the results, the birth rate increased on the hot day and the following day and only returned to normal after 15 days.
About 30 hot days per year were recorded during the study period, which reduced pregnancy by 25,000 births and resulted in the loss of more than 150,000 days of pregnancy.
From 1969 to 1988, it was shown that air conditioners could reduce the effect of the phenomenon by one third.
(Source: marmalade.co.uk; hirado.com | Image: pixabay.com)