Does Summer Heat Imprint Childhood Cancer In-Utero?

Dr. Chapa’s Clinical Pearls.

It's Summer…and its getting HOT in here! Although the effect of heatwaves in pregnancy has been studied various times, the data remains limited because these studies are observational, with very heterogenous populations, so its hard to prove causation between heat exposure and adverse outcomes. Nonetheless, these associations are indeed concerning. YES…just to be clear, there are past studies that have observed associations between heatwaves and PTB, low birthweight, and in some studies…stillbirth. The most recent review on this was published just last year (June 2023) in the J Mother Child, and the title was “A Comprehensive Review on Hot Ambient Temperature and its Impacts on Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes”. This review of 23 articles did again find an association between heat stress and adverse pregnancy outcomes. PLUS, a new publication released July 3, 2024, now raises new concerns about ambient heat and in-utero childhood cancer programming! That article, from Lancet Planetary Health, is the focus of this episode. BUT WAIT there’s more! We will also look at the relationship between ambient heat and PTB and oligohydramnios. So, grab your ice cooled glass of water and Let’s look at the evidence.