Thermal Environment and Human Birth Weight

✍ Scribed by JONATHAN C.K. WELLS

• Book ID: 102613548
• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2002
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 258 KB
• Volume: 214
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-5193
• DOI: 10.1006/jtbi.2001.2465

✦ Synopsis

Human birth weight is known to be in#uenced by several factors, including maternal energy supply, maternal stature, disease status, smoking status and gestation length. This article proposes that the thermal environment may be a further factor in#uencing birth weight. Experimental animal studies demonstrate clear e!ects of thermal stress on placental function and birth weight, but may have limited relevance for humans due to between-species di!erences in pregnancy physiology. Observational studies suggest an inverse relationship between environmental temperature and birth weight within and between human populations. Variation in maternal size, body fatness, pregnancy weight gain and heat production is predicted to in#uence maternal thermoregulatory capacity, as are the size and composition of the foetus. These associations generate the hypothesis that low birth weight in hot environments may in part represent an adaptation to environmental heat stress.