Summer season likely to increase the risk of miscarriages
Boston [Massachusetts], July 10: As per the recent study by the Boston University School of Public Health (BUSHP), the summer season months can raise the chances of miscarriages in women when compared to other weather conditions.
As per the sources, up to 30 per cent of pregnancies end in miscarriage, defined as pregnancy loss before 20 weeks of pregnancy. As many as half of miscarriages are unexplained, and there are few known risk factors for these pregnancy losses, which can lead to a post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and anxiety.
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The study investigated that seasonal differences can also cause miscarriage and found that pregnant people in North America had a 44 percent higher risk of an early miscarriage (within eight weeks of pregnancy) in the summer months--particularly in late August--than they did six months earlier in February. The risk of miscarriage during any week of pregnancy was 31 per cent higher in late August, compared to late February.
Results suggested that additional research is needed to understand the potential roles of extreme heat and other hot-weather environmental or lifestyle exposures in unexpected pregnancy loss.
As per the analyzed survey data on pregnancy loss among pregnancy planners in the BUSPH-based Pregnancy Study Online (PRESTO), an ongoing NIH-funded study since 2013 that enrolls women trying to conceive and follows them from preconception through six months after delivery.
All PRESTO participants provide baseline information on sociodemographics, lifestyle, and medical histories, and for this study, the researchers focused on 6,104 participants who conceived within 12 months of enrolling. They provided information about pregnancy loss of any kind, the date of loss, and the weeks of gestation at the time of the loss.
One hypothesis is that the summer rise in miscarriage risk is driven by exposure to heat. "Few studies have examined the association between heat and miscarriage risk, so this is definitely a topic that warrants further exploration.”
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"We know that heat is associated with a higher risk of other pregnancy outcomes, such as preterm delivery, low birth weight, and stillbirth, in particular," doctor says. "Medical guidance and public health messaging--including heat action plans and climate adaptation policies--need to consider the potential effects of heat on the health of pregnant people and their babies."
-PTC News
