What risk does wildfire smoke pose during late-term pregnancies? This is what a recent study published in Environmental Science & Technology hopes to address as a team of researchers investigated a link between wildfire smoke exposure for pregnant mothers and an increased risk in autism for their unborn children. This study has the potential to help researchers, climate scientists, medical professionals, and the public better understand a link between climate catastrophes and health, specifically as climate change continues to ravage the planet.
For the study, the researchers analyzed data obtained from 2006 to 2014 regarding wildfire smoke exposure to pregnant mothers, specifically focusing on exposure to particulate matter that is 2.5 micrometers in diameter or smaller (PM2.5). The analysis considered average wildfire-related PM2.5 concentration, the number of smoke-exposure days, and the number of distinct smoke-exposure waves. After analyzing data for 82,303 participants, the researchers not only found approximately 60% of pregnant mothers experienced wildfire smoke exposure greater than 5 days, along with discovering there were 3,356 autism diagnoses of those children by age 5.
“Both autism and wildfires are on the rise, and this study is just the beginning of investigating links between the two,” said Dr. Mostafijur Rahman, assistant professor of environmental health sciences at Tulane University and a co-author on the study. “As climate change increases the frequency and intensity of wildfires in many parts of the world, understanding their relationship with autism is important to being able to develop preventive policy and interventions that will protect pregnant women and their children.”
This study comes as climate change continues to ravage the planet, specifically with increased summer temperatures, resulting in larger and more frequent wildfires. Additionally, with autism awareness having increased within the last few years, studies like this demonstrate a potential correlation between climate change and autism while working to address both concerns.
What new potential connections between wildfire smoke and autism will researchers make in the coming years and decades? Only time will tell, and this is why we science!
As always, keep doing science & keep looking up!