Date of Award

1-1-2014

Language

English

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

College/School/Department

Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics

Program

Epidemiology

Content Description

1 online resource (xviii, 214 pages) : color illustrations, color maps

Dissertation/Thesis Chair

Shao Lin

Committee Members

Syni-An Hwang, Scott Sheridan

Keywords

climate change, heat waves, neural tube defects, oral clefts, pregnancy outcomes, preterm birth, Abnormalities, Human, Heat waves (Meteorology), Premature labor, Neural tube, Cleft palate, Cleft lip

Subject Categories

Epidemiology

Abstract

With climate change it is expected that extreme weather events will become more frequent and longer in duration. The health consequences of maternal exposure during pregnancy to extreme heat events are not well understood in spite of biological plausibility for adverse effects suggested by prior findings. There is very limited research that explores the relationship between extreme heat events and birth defects. The overall goal of this line of research was to determine whether heatwaves (HW) are associated with two major classes of birth defects: neural tube defects (NTDs) and oral clefts. One component of this project aimed to describe the occurrence and distribution of extreme weather indicators in five climate regions of the continental United States. We observed that the frequency distribution of extreme heat days and HW varied over time and between the five climate regions. Statistically significant positive trends were observed in the South, Southeast, and Northeast.

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