In spite of being adults, at times, we fail to realize the repercussions of our actions and abuse the benefits that nature has provided us for free.

The climatological mess we have made impacts our kids the most and also the unborn ones by increasing the chances of preterm deliveries. One-forth of the children in the U.S. are born two to three weeks before their due dates. Pregnancies typically last 40 weeks, and these babies qualify as "early term," which is not as critical as preterm babies. But, they have a tad higher risks of respiratory problems!

About one-tenth of the children in the U.S. are born more than three weeks before their due date, which qualifies them as “preterm” and makes them vulnerable for much worse outcomes.

Alan Barreca, an associate professor at UCLA’s Institute of Environmental Sustainability, along with economist Jessamyn Schaller of Claremont McKenna College, studied the effects of hot weather on early delivery – the same has been published in the December 2, 2019 issue of Nature Climate Change.

They worked on the daily temperature and county-by-county birth rates across the U.S. from 1969 to 1988. Though it's an old dataset, that was the most authentic data available as after that information allowed publicly was more cautious. Their results showed a slight spike in the birth rate on hotter days – birth rate per 100,000 women increased by 0.57 on days when temperature ranged between 26.7 to 32.2º C (80-90º F). And a substantial spike of .97 additional births per 100,000 women on days when temperatures reached or exceeded 32.2ºC (90ºF), compared to when the temperature was between 16-21º C (60-70º F).

It can be due to various reasons, and multiple theories are explaining the same. It may be so that heat prompts an increase in levels of the hormone oxytocin, which plays a role in regulating delivery, and later, lactation. Another theory says that due to the cardiovascular stress caused in the mother by heat, her body goes into early labour. It can also be due to a lack of sleep in hot weather, which is also crucial for early delivery.

They calculated that, on average, an early birth caused by 90º F or higher temperature cost a woman and her baby 6.1 days of gestation. In their data of two decades, only 3.5 million babies were born every year on average. However, still, 25,000 babies every year didn’t get the growth and developmental benefit of a full 40 weeks - due to high temperature.

The impact of weather change on deliveries can be humongous; as per Barreca, it can “induce about 42,000 additional deliveries annually in the United States by the end of the century. That's more than 1 in every 100 births.”

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The impact was less distinct on pregnant women living in hot-weather regions, which might be because they are acclimated to high temperatures. Air conditioning is another solution, but that would have a further negative impact on the climate.