Adverse Birth Outcomes Associated with Heat Stress and Wildfire Smoke Exposure During Preconception and Pregnancy
We investigated associations between preconception and prenatal heat stress and wildfire (WF) smoke exposures on adverse birth outcomes and whether neighborhood climate vulnerability is an effect modifier in the Maternal And Developmental Risks from Environmental and Social stressors cohort (<i>N</i> = 713). Generalized linear models were fit to test the association between exposures and small-for-gestational-age (SGA), low birthweight (LBW), and Fenton growth <i>z</i>-score outcomes, adjusting for confounders. Living in a high climate vulnerability index neighborhood was tested as an effect modifier. During preconception, increases in heat stress and WF measures were associated with higher odds of SGA. Living in the most climate-vulnerable neighborhoods during preconception significantly modified and nearly doubled the odds of SGA with exposure to heat stress. Similarly, heat stress and WF exposure in trimester-specific time periods were associated with adverse birth outcomes. Conversely, third-trimester exposures were associated with lower odds of LBW. Throughout pregnancy, two measures of infant size (SGA and Fenton <i>z</i>-scores) were lower among those with greater exposure to multiple WF exposures. This study highlights how living in more climate-vulnerable neighborhoods significantly modifies the effect of heat stress on SGA, suggesting that the increasing adaptation capacity of communities may strengthen climate change resilience.
Authors
- Xu Yan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2848-0208)
- Nathan Pavlovic (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2127-3940)
- Crystal D. McClure (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7477-5528)
- Mario Vigil (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-0724-396X)
- Carmen J. Marsit (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4566-150X)
- Tingyu Yang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2438-9159)
- Xinci Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-4619-7892)
- Carrie V. Breton (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6082-4066)
- Jill Johnston (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4530-0555)
- Frederick Lurmann (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9943-4172)
- Brendan H. Grubbs (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1963-4922)
- Deborah Lerner
- Theresa M. Bastain (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0029-5641)
- Yisi Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6974-1462)
- Roxana Khalili (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-2277-7692)
- Shohreh F. Farzan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9897-3692)
- Karl O’Sharkey (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7439-8811)
- Rima Habre (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2103-1706)
- Nathana Lurvey
- Layla Al Marayati
Institutions
- University of Southern California (US)
- Emory University (US)
- CRC for Spatial information (AU)
- California Southern University (US)
- Sonoma Technology (United States) (US)
- Keck Graduate Institute (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Environmental Science & Technology
- Published
- 2025-06-18
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.4c10194
- Citations
- 5
- Primary Topic
- Climate Change and Health Impacts
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 6.00
Funders
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
- National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
- National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
- National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities