American Heart Association; Climate change

may increase congenital heart defects

Publication info: NewsRx Health & Science ; Atlanta [Atlanta]17 Feb 2019: 58.

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2019 FEB 17 (VerticalNews) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at VerticalNews Health &Science -- DALLAS,
Rising temperatures stemming from global climate change may increase the number of infants born with
congenital heart defects (CHD) in the United States over the next two decades and may result in as many as 7,000
additional cases over an 11 year-period in eight representative states (Arkansas, Texas, California, Iowa, North
Caroline, Georgia, New York and Utah), according to new research in the Journal of the American Heart
Association, the Open Access Journal of the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association.
"Our findings underscore the alarming impact of climate change on human health and highlight the need for
improved preparedness to deal the anticipated rise in a complex condition that often requires lifelong care and
follow-up," said study senior author Shao Lin, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H., professor in the School of Public Health at
University of Albany, New York. "It is important for clinicians to counsel pregnant women and those planning to
become pregnant on the importance of avoiding extreme heat, particularly 3-8 weeks post conception, the critical
period of pregnancy."
Congenital heart defects are the most common birth defect in the United States affecting some 40,000 newborns
each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"Our results highlight the dramatic ways in which climate change can affect human health and suggest that
pediatric heart disease stemming from structural heart malformations may become an important consequence of
rising temperatures," said the leading author Wangjian Zhang, M.D., Ph.D., a post-doctoral research fellow at the
University of Albany.
The projected increase in children with congenital heart disease will pose greater demand on the medical
community caring for newborns with heart disease in their infancy and well beyond.
While previous research has found a link between maternal heat exposure and the risk for heart defects in the
offspring, the precise mechanisms remain unclear. Studies in animals suggest that heat may cause fetal cell death
or interfere with several heat-sensitive proteins that play a critical role in fetal development, the researchers say.
The estimates in the current study are based on projections of the number of births between 2025 and 2035 in the
United States and the anticipated rise in average maternal heat exposure across different regions as a result of
global climate change. The greatest percentage increases in the number of newborns with CHD will occur in the
Midwest, followed by the Northeast and South.
In their analysis, the researchers used climate change forecasts obtained from NASA and the Goddard Institute for
Space Studies. They improved the spatial and temporal resolutions of the forecasts, simulated changes in daily
maximum temperatures by geographic region and then calculated the anticipated maternal heat exposure per
region for spring and summer. For each pregnancy and region, they defined three exposure indicators: 1) the count
of excessively hot days (EHD) as the number of days exceeding the 90th (EHD90) or 95th (EHD95) percentile for
the same season of the baseline period at the same region; 2) the frequency of extreme heat events (EHE) as the
number of occurrences of at least three consecutive EHD 90 days or two consecutive EHD 95 days; and 3) the
duration of EHE as the number of days for the longest EHE within the 42-day period.
To obtain a parameter for congenital heart defect (CHD) burden projections, the investigators used data from an

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earlier study, also led by Lin, which gauged the risk of congenital heart defects based on maternal heat exposure
for births occurring between 1997 and 2007. The researchers then integrated the heat-CHD associations identified
during the baseline period with the projected increases in maternal heat exposure over a period between 2025 and
2035 to estimate the potential changes in CHD burden.
"Although this study is preliminary, it would be prudent for women in the early weeks of pregnancy to avoid heat
extremes similar to the advice given to persons with cardiovascular and pulmonary disease during heart spells,"
said Shao Lin, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H., associate director of environmental health services, University at Albany, State
University of New York.
Keywords for this news article include: Cardiology, Climate Change, Global Warming, Health and Medicine, Risk and
Prevention, Congenital Heart Defects, American Heart Association, Heart Disorders and Diseases, Congenital
Diseases and Conditions.
Our reports deliver fact-based news of research and discoveries from around the world. Copyright 2019, NewsRx
LLC

DETAILS

Subject: Research; Womens health; Defects; Congenital diseases; Researchers; Pregnancy;

Heat; Climate change; Associations; Health risk assessment; Cardiovascular
disease; Heart

Location: Georgia Arkansas Utah Texas United States--US New York California Iowa

Company / organization:
Name: American Stroke Association; NAICS: 813212; Name: National Aeronautics
&Space Administration--NASA; NAICS: 927110; Name: Centers for Disease Control
&Prevention--CDC; NAICS: 923120; Name: American Heart Association; NAICS:
813212; Name: State University of New York; NAICS: 611310; Name: Journal of the
American Heart Association; NAICS: 511120

Identifier / keyword: American Heart Association Cardiology Climate Change Congenital Diseases and
Conditions Congenital Heart Defects Global Warming Health and Medicine Heart
Defects Heart Disorders and Diseases Risk and Prevention

Publication title: NewsRx Health &Science; Atlanta

First page: 58

Publication year: 2019

Publication date: Feb 17, 2019

Publisher: NewsRx

Place of publication: Atlanta

Country of publication: United States, Atlanta

Publication subject: Medical Sciences

ISSN: 19442599

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 Source type: Wire Feeds

Language of publication: English

Document type: News

ProQuest document ID: 2179141278

Document URL: https://search.proquest.com/docview/2179141278?accountid=149218

Copyright: Copyright 2019, NewsRx LLC

Last updated: 2019-02-13

Database: ProQuest Central

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