Temperature, climate change, and birth weight: evidence from Hungary

Abstract

We analyze the impact of in utero temperature exposure on the birth weight and an indicator for low birth weight using administrative data on singleton live births conceived between 2000 and 2016 in Hungary. We find that exposure to high temperatures during pregnancy decreases birth weight, but its impact on the probability of low birth weight is weaker. Exposure to one additional hot day (mean temperature > 25 °C) during the gestation period reduces birth weight by 0.46 g, relative to a 15–20 °C day. The second and third trimesters appear to be slightly more sensitive to temperature exposure than the first trimester. We project that climate change will decrease birth weight and increase the prevalence of low birth weight by the mid-twenty-first century. The projected impacts are the strongest for newborns conceived during the winter and spring months.

Extreme temperatures during pregnancy and adverse birth outcomes: Evidence from 2009 to 2018 U.S. national birth data

“…These small but significant effects are consistent with the findings in the studies using birth certificate data from earlier years. In particular, Deschenes et al (2009) find that an additional hot day with average temperature above 85°F (29.4°C) leads to 0.003-0.009% decline in birthweight in the U.S., and Hajdu & Hajdu, 2021 find that an additional day with average temperature above 25 °C (77°F) leads to 0.46 g (or 0.014%) decline in birthweight in Hungary. Similarly, Cil and Cameron (2017) find that heatwave exposure during pregnancy leads to a 2% of a week decrease in county average gestational age in the U.S. Chen et al ( 2020), on the other hand, find somewhat larger effect sizes of 0.05% decrease in birthweight and about 1% of the mean increase in low birthweight associated with an additional day with mean temperatures above 28 °C (82.4°F) using Chinese birth data.…”

“…In particular, Deschenes et al. (2009) find that an additional hot day with average temperature above 85°F (29.4°C) leads to 0.003–0.009% decline in birthweight in the U.S., and Hajdu & Hajdu, 2021 find that an additional day with average temperature above 25 °C (77°F) leads to 0.46 g (or 0.014%) decline in birthweight in Hungary. Similarly, Cil and Cameron (2017) find that heatwave exposure during pregnancy leads to a 2% of a week decrease in county average gestational age in the U.S. Chen et al.…”

“…A growing consensus about climate change contributing to the gradual warming of the Earth (NASA, 2013) has spurred a literature on the impacts of exposure to extreme temperatures on a range of population health and economic outcomes. There is a burgeoning literature documenting that extreme heat exposure during pregnancy has adverse consequences on birth outcomes, such as preterm birth, stillbirths, and low birthweight, using data from several countries outside of United States (Asamoah et al., 2018; Chen et al., 2020; Chersich et al., 2020; Hajdu & Hajdu, 2021; Li et al., 2018; Martens et al., 2019; Molina & Saldarriaga, 2017; Son et al., 2019). In the United States, only two studies in the economics literature investigated the impacts of in‐utero exposure to extreme temperatures on maternal and infant health using national birth data: Deschenes et al.…”

Climate, weather and child health in Burkina Faso

“…Using a multimodel mean from a large number of models allows us to reduce bias and model uncertainty associated with individual climatic models. Following the existing literature (Dasgupta, 2018;Hajdu & Hajdu, 2021;Schleypen et al, 2022), first, we estimate child health under a no-climate change scenario (1995)(1996)(1997)(1998)(1999)(2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)(2010)(2011)(2012)(2013)(2014) using the historical data from the GCMs and then compare the health outcomes from this scenario against projections for two time epochs, medium term (2030-2050) and long term , to obtain the ratio of future child health outcomes to synthetic historical child health in Burkina Faso. The output is percentage change in child health indicators due to future climate change compared with a reference period of 1995-2014.…”

Temperature, Climate Change, and Fertility

“…They found that, relative to a day in the 0-4 °C temperature range, extreme heat (daily mean temperature >28 °C) reduces birth weight by 0.057%, but cold temperatures have no impact. Hajdu and Hajdu (2021c) used administrative data on more than 1.5 million singleton live births conceived between 2000 and 2016 in Hungary. They showed that exposure to one additional hot day (mean temperature above 25 °C) during the gestation period reduces birth weight by 0.46 g, relative to a 15-20 °C day.…”