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Review
. 2023 Apr 5:14:1149284.
doi: 10.3389/fendo.2023.1149284. eCollection 2023.

Climate change and pregnancy complications: From hormones to the immune response

Dennis Yüzen  1   2 , Isabel Graf  1 , Anke Diemert  1 , Petra Clara Arck  1
Affiliations
Review

Climate change and pregnancy complications: From hormones to the immune response

Dennis Yüzen et al. Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). .

Abstract

Pregnant women are highly vulnerable to adverse environments. Accumulating evidence highlights that increasing temperatures associated with the ongoing climate change pose a threat to successful reproduction. Heat stress caused by an increased ambient temperature can result in adverse pregnancy outcomes, e.g., preterm birth, stillbirth and low fetal weight. The pathomechanisms through which heat stress interferes with pregnancy maintenance still remain vague, but emerging evidence underscores that the endocrine system is severely affected. It is well known that the endocrine system pivotally contributes to the physiological progression of pregnancy. We review - sometimes speculate - how heat stress can offset hormonal dysregulations and subsequently derail other systems which interact with hormones, such as the immune response. This may account for the heat-stress related threat to successful pregnancy progression, fetal development and long-term children's health.

Keywords: climate change; endocrine system; fetal development; heat stress; hormones; immune system; pregnancy; preterm birth.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Increased susceptibility of pregnant women to heat stress with possible consequences for the progression of pregnancy and offspring’s health.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Direct and indirect implications of heat stress on the reproductive life cycle of female mammals (, , , –45).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Effect of heat stress on the female mammalian endocrine system, highlighting the progression from the hypothalamus-pituitary axis to the peripheral tissues.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Future directions of heat stress related pregnancy research.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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