Climate change increased the days of risky heat for pregnant women between 2020 and 2024, especially in the Balearic Islands (28 additional days), Castilla-La Mancha (26), Catalonia, Valencian Community and Murcia (all three with 25), according to a report by the independent platform of scientists and journalists Climate Central.
The study by this international organization also records the increase in additional days of heat - those in which temperatures exceed 95% of historical local temperatures - in Aragon (24 more days), Andalusia (21), Castilla y León, Extremadura and La Rioja (20), Canary Islands (19), Navarra (18) Melilla (17), Basque Country and Asturias (16) and Cantabria, Galicia and Ceuta (15).
Of the four Spanish cities included in the report, Barcelona with 28 days experienced the largest increase, followed by Madrid with 25, Valencia with 22 and Seville with 11.
Globally
Climate Central's research analyzes a total of 247 countries and territories and 940 cities, and concludes that the annual average of "dangerously hot" days for pregnant women has "at least doubled", increasing in the last five years in almost 90% of the former and 63% of the latter.
In addition, in almost a third of the countries and territories, "climate change added at least one more month of risky heat days" during pregnancy each year studied.
The largest number of days added was, according to this study, in developing countries in "areas that often have limited access to health care", such as the Caribbean, Central and South America, the Pacific Islands, Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, which are among the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change.
To reach these conclusions, the organization used two main tools: on the one hand, the counting of additional days of heat and, on the other, the Climate Shift Index (CSI) system, a "counterfactual scenario" that calculates the number of days that would have occurred in a world without climate change.
Health crisis
This greater number of hot days, Climate Central insists, is associated with the risk of premature births that "can have lasting effects on the baby's health and increase the risk of maternal health problems after delivery", but also on the good health of babies already born, so "the climate crisis is also a public health crisis".
The report links high temperatures with an increased risk of hypertension, gestational diabetes, hospitalization, severe maternal morbidity, stillbirth and premature birth.
The organization's vice president of science, Kristina Dahl, stressed that "even a single day of extreme heat can increase the risk of serious complications in pregnancy", especially "in places where it is already difficult to access health care".
