Maternal exposure to heatwave and preterm birth in Brisbane, Australia

Objective To quantify the short‐term effects of maternal exposure to heatwave on preterm birth. Design An ecological study. Setting A population‐based study in Brisbane, Australia. Population All pregnant women who had a spontaneous singleton live birth in Brisbane between November and March in 2000...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:BJOG : an international journal of obstetrics and gynaecology 2013-12, Vol.120 (13), p.1631-1641
Main Authors: Wang, J, Williams, G, Guo, Y, Pan, X, Tong, S
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Air Pollutants - analysis
Australia - epidemiology
Extreme Heat - adverse effects
Female
Hazards ratio
Heat
heatwave
Humans
Infant, Newborn
Multivariate Analysis
Pregnancy
Premature birth
Premature Birth - epidemiology
preterm birth
Proportional Hazards Models
survival analysis
Weather
Young Adult
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Summary:Objective To quantify the short‐term effects of maternal exposure to heatwave on preterm birth. Design An ecological study. Setting A population‐based study in Brisbane, Australia. Population All pregnant women who had a spontaneous singleton live birth in Brisbane between November and March in 2000–2010 were studied. Methods Daily data on pregnancy outcomes, meteorological factors, and ambient air pollutants were obtained. The Cox proportional hazards regression model with time‐dependent variables was used to examine the short‐term impact of heatwave on preterm birth. A series of cut‐off temperatures and durations were used to define heatwave. Multivariable analyses were also performed to adjust for socio‐economic factors, demographic factors, meteorological factors, and ambient air pollutants. Main outcome measure Spontaneous preterm births. Results The adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) ranged from 1.13 (95% CI 1.03–1.24) to 2.00 (95% CI 1.37–2.91) by using different heatwave definitions, after controlling for demographic, socio‐economic, and meteorological factors, and air pollutants. Conclusions Heatwave was significantly associated with preterm birth: the associations were robust to the definitions of heatwave. The threshold temperatures, instead of duration, could be more likely to influence the evaluation of birth‐related heatwaves. The findings of this study may have significant public health implications as climate change progresses.
ISSN:1470-0328
1471-0528
DOI:10.1111/1471-0528.12397