Rain Babies: Climate Change Causes Premature Births in the Amazon

The health of babies born in the Amazon rainforest is affected by erratic weather conditions and floods caused by climate change.

Luke Parry and his colleagues from Lancaster University in the United Kingdom compared rainfall levels to the birth weights and pregnancy durations of nearly 300,000 babies born in the Brazilian Amazon between 2006 and 2017.

"It's vital to mitigate the effects of climate change, but it's also critical to assist Amazonians in adapting especially riverside communities," he says.

Premature (preterm) Birth

When an infant is born before 37 weeks of pregnancy, it is known as preterm birth or premature birth. In the United States, one out of every ten babies were delivered early.

Premature babies can have difficulties with:

• Breathing
• Infections
• Brain development

According to research, women with asthma and Black mothers are more likely to give birth prematurely. Living in places where there is flaring or higher levels of emissions and having long-term higher levels of stress can raise the likelihood of having an unfavorable pregnancy outcome.

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