Potential Influence of Temperature and Precipitation on Preterm Birth Rate in Puerto Rico

Details

• Personal Author:
  Alshawabkeh A ; Cordero JF ; Feric Z ; Meeker JD ; Yu X
• Description:
  The preterm birth (PTB) rate for singletons born in the tropical Caribbean island Puerto Rico increased from 11.3% in 1994, which was comparable to rates in the U.S., to as high as 18.3% in 2006 before decreasing to 15.5% in 2012. A few studies have reported that weather extremes are associated with higher risk of preterm birth, however, the effects of ambient temperature and precipitation has not been well examined in Puerto Rico. We compiled child birth data from the National Center for Health Statistics and weather data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration from 1994 to 2012. We explored the association between the weather factors and PTB rates with a distributed lag non-linear model (DLNM). We did not find direct association of lagged effect of temperature on birth outcome over monthly timescales. Both high intensity and frequency of precipitation and high frequency of storm and flood events are associated with increased risk of PTB rates. While the weather factors do not explain the marked increase and decrease in PTB rate, we emphasize the negative effects on PTB from weather extremes particularly precipitation in Puerto Rico. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Epidemiology Meteorology Occupational Health Pregnancy Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety Temperature Women
• Keywords:
  Climatic Conditions Floods Health Effects Risk Factors Storms Temperature Effects
• ISSN:
  2045-2322
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Georgia ; Massachusetts ; Michigan ; OSHA Region 1 ; OSHA Region 4 ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  8
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20055599
• Citation:
  Sci Rep 2018 Oct; 8:16106
• Contact Point Address:
  Akram Alshawabkeh, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA
• Email:
  a.alshawabkeh@northeastern.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2019
• Performing Organization:
  University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Scientific Reports
• End Date:
  20280630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:6149dcba895476e6bb8691fa843a9ce629b6b59d6fcd343c5e975d02d37b8ea23da8ae1ab5b2cf9b6a7fa49047c56968fdaedf8eb7ee95de8355d90df92e1200
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/213416/cdc_213416_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.48 MB ]