High Ambient Temperatures During Pregnancy and Risk of Offspring Cerebral Palsy

As the Earth gets hotter, we will see a host of problems. An increase in cerebral palsy may be among them. Cerebral palsy is the most common and severe motor disability in childhood, with disproportionally higher rates among non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic children in the United States. There are reasons to believe high ambient temperatures during pregnancy may increase the risk of cerebral palsy among the offspring, although no research has addressed this question yet. In this study, the team will evaluate all people with cerebral palsy born in California between 2000 and 2015 (about 10,000 people), comparing them with 20% of the California birth cohort in the same years (about 1.6 million people). This research could significantly impact the way we understand cerebral palsy, providing new insights that could lead to a shift in approaches to preventing the condition.