Thermal perception of pregnant women duringdifferent stages of pregnancy: A study at a hospital in Xi’an, China

1.Objective Pregnant women have different heat preferences during pregnancy. This article aims to investigate the thermal characteristics of pregnant women in hospitals, the correlation between the emotional impact of thermal environment on pregnant women, metabolic rate, and fetal growth rate, fill the gap in the correlation between thermal characteristics, metabolism, and nutrient absorption in this population, and guide the improvement of hospital environment. 2.Methods This study collected from pregnant women at different stages of pregnancy, in a hospital located in Xi’an, during the winter within assesseded same thermal environment, including demographic characteristics. Datas were include thermal comfort votes (TCVs), Self Anxiety Test Scale(SAS), Z-score of fetal Fetal Biometry and Estimate fetal weight(EFW).TCV, using a 5-point scale: 0, “comfortable”; +1, “slightly uncomfortable”; +2, “uncomfortable”; +3, “very uncomfortable”.SAS is obtain from a questionnaire composed of 20 questions.The cut-off value for SAS standard deviation is 50 points, with 50-59 points indicating mild anxiety, 60-69 points indicating moderate anxiety, and 69 points or above indicating severe anxiety.Z-score include BPD, HC, AC, FL, EFW. Collected Participants’ metabolic rate by Cosmed K5. 3.Results Participants consist of 844 healthy pregnant women, first trimester 240, second trimester281, and third trimester 323.The average air temperatures were 24.3±0.5°C, the average relative humidities were 29.1%. [Table: see text] [Table: see text] [Table: see text] 4. Discussion Pregnant women may exhibit different thermal preferences and experiences in the same ambient temperature. Our research suggests that the thermal comfort vote (TCV) values of the pregnant women were different, The mean TCV in pregnant women increased gradually with pregnancy duration.Pregnant women in the third trimester were more sensitive to high temperature environments and felt more warm discomfort than in other trimesters. This phenomenon may be related to the metabolic level of pregnant women, as well as an increased anxiety index due to discomfort in the thermal environment, since The metabolic rate of late pregnant women is statistical different from that of the first and second periods(1.10 Vs 1.00 and 1.03).This may not be related to the growth and development of the fetus, except for the abdominal circumference. The National NaturalScience Foundation of China(NO 52378106) Research and Development Plan of Shaanxi Provincial Department of Science and Technology(NO 2024SF-YBXM-241) This abstract was presented at the American Physiology Summit 2025 and is only available in HTML format. There is no downloadable file or PDF version. The Physiology editorial board was not involved in the peer review process.