Growing in the womb: The effect of seismic activity on fetal growth

Abstract

We study how prenatal maternal stress, caused by sustained seismic activity, affects birth outcomes in Chile during the period 2011-2015. A mother-fixed-effect model together with the spatiotemporal variation of earthquakes in Chile allow us to deal with identification issues that have obscured previous estimates. Our findings show that prenatal maternal stress seems to affect fetal growth, because infants born to mothers exposed to earth tremors in early and/or mid gestation are more likely to be large for gestational age. The estimates suggest that relatively poorer Chilean mothers are more vulnerable to earthquakes, because their babies seem to drive the reported impacts on fetal growth. We discuss and provide evidence that suggests a possible mechanism that explains the varying results across socioeconomic status. Mothers with diabetes and/or hypertension are more likely to have large-for-gestational-age babies. Exposure to earth tremors seems to increase the incidence of these afflictions among the affected population, with the observed impact on diabetes being relatively higher among women with lower socioeconomic status.

Association between earthquakes and perinatal outcomes: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

“…In this systematic review, we investigated whether earthquakes increase adverse perinatal outcomes, including 2 607 405 women and 13 studies. [12][13][14][15][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46] Our findings showed that, overall, earthquakes might not increase preterm birth or low birth weight among affected women. Additionally, earthquakes might not reduce the birth of males, gestational age, or birth weight and might not increase stillbirth.…”

“…We present the reasons for excluding these studies in Table S3. Consequently, we included 13 studies for analyses 12–15,38–46 …”

“…Consequently, we included 13 studies for analyses. [12][13][14][15][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46] All were retrospective before-and-after studies (Table 1). Out of the 13 included studies, two involved study populations located in Japan, four were populations in Iran, one was a population in China, four were populations in Chile, one was a population in Haiti, and one was a population in New Zealand.…”

Dust to Feed, Dust to Grey: The Effect of In-Utero Exposure to the Dust Bowl on Old-Age Longevity

“…Some studies suggest that natural disasters and climatic catastrophes may impact health endowment at birth through less direct channels such as prenatal maternal stress (Álvarez-Aranda et al, 2020;Caruso & Miller, 2015;Glynn et al, 2001;Hetherington et al, 2021;Kim et al, 2017;Nandi et al, 2018;Torche, 2011). For instance, Currie & Rossin-Slater (2013) explore the impact of stress-induced by hurricanes on birth outcomes.…”

The effect of unemployment insurance on the safety net and infant health in the USA

“…Social insurance also has the potential to influence maternal mental health outcomes and help mothers experience less stressful pregnancies. Since stress has a detrimental influence on birth outcomes, UI payments can be beneficial for infants' health outcomes (Álvarez-Aranda et al, 2020;Bozzoli & Quintana-Domeque, 2014;Noghanibehambari et al, 2020a;Olafsson, 2016).…”