How climate change is increasing complication risks for pregnant women
Early season heat waves gripping the central and southern United States are bringing attention to the health dangers of high temperatures during pregnancy.
While extreme heat can be dangerous for anybody, pregnant women are particularly at risk — and according to released last week, climate change is making things worse.
The analysis, from the nonprofit Climate Central, found that climate change nearly doubled the average number of "pregnancy heat-risk days" — extremely hot days linked to an increased risk of preterm birth — in the U.S. from 2020 to 2024.
"These are the days when pregnant women are at increased risk for a number of different complications — so heat stroke, heat exhaustion," Dr. Céline Gounder, CBS News medical contributor and editor-at-large for public health at KFF Health News, said on "CBS Mornings Plus" Tuesday. "If you have these kinds of symptoms in a pregnant woman, it's even more concerning, because you can have other complications like preterm birth."
Heat can have such an impact because pregnancy puts major stress on the heart.
"You're more likely to get dehydrated during pregnancy. You have an increase in your blood volume during pregnancy, and so being dehydrated, being exposed to extra heat, you're working that much harder to keep yourself and your baby cool," Gounder said.
While it's important to be aware of temperatures throughout an entire pregnancy, Gounder said it's especially important during the third trimester, which can be hardest on the body. It's also when the risk of extreme heat causes the most number of complications, she added.
Finding ways to stay cool should also be top of mind, Gounder said, especially as resources related to heat safety are being cut.
"You're going to have to stay on top of this a whole lot more, because some of the surveillance that was being done by NOAA (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), by the CDC, is now being cut by the Trump administration," Gounder said. "That is part of their job — to do the surveillance and let people know and to have those cooling centers open and ready to welcome people."
In February, more than 800 employees were dismissed from NOAA, the nation's primary hub for weather and climate information that is considered the authority on forecasting, storm tracking and climate monitoring. The job cuts were part of a federal cost-cutting initiative by the Trump administration and the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.
Also under the DOGE initiative were cuts to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, including large agencies like the CDC, the nation's public health agency, which is responsible for protecting Americans from disease outbreaks and other public health threats, tracking health trends and developing health and safety guidelines.
To help stay cool, Gounder suggests not over-exerting yourself on hot days, finding a shady place to take breaks when outside and seeking spaces like a public library if you need to cool down further.
