00:00As temperatures soar across Europe, how does it affect pregnancies?
00:08Pregnant people and their newborns are particularly vulnerable to high temperatures,
00:13with heat being an important environmental factor that can trigger early labor.
00:17It is estimated that 1.41% of all premature births occurring during the summer are attributable to heat.
00:25On days of moderate heat, this risk increases by 2.8%, while on days of extreme heat, it reaches 3
00:33.8%.
00:34This is according to a study which analyzed 36.6 million births that took place during the summer
00:40in 250,000 cities across 13 countries, including Estonia, Italy and Spain, between 1979 and 2019.
00:50Among the European countries analyzed, Spain registered the highest rate at 1.080 preterm births per million,
00:58with the city of Leon being the most affected.
01:01In contrast, Switzerland has the lowest rate of all countries analyzed, with 628 preterm births per million.
01:08But heat doesn't affect all women equally.
01:11Factors like climate, socioeconomic characteristics and healthcare infrastructure
01:16may change the vulnerability of pregnant people to heat.
01:19In fact, young single mothers with lower levels of education and in a vulnerable socioeconomic situation
01:25may be at greater risk of heat-induced preterm birth.
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