Wellcome have awarded a £1.8 million grant to a Cambridge-led research consortium to study the life-long and intergenerational mental health effects of extreme heat on pregnant women and their children.
An international team of researchers from Cambridge, University of New South Wales Sydney, Australia (UNSW) and University of Thessaly, Greece (UTH)—spanning climate science, psychology, and perinatal health—will explore the largely uncharted biological and psychological links between heat and mental health in mothers and their children.
The interdisciplinary project is led by Prof Amanda Sferuzzi-Perri from the Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, in Cambridge’s School of Biological Sciences, and a Fellow at St John’s College.
“I am thrilled that we have received funding to explore how extreme heat may impact the mental health of mothers and their babies,” Prof Sferruzzi-Perri said. “Pregnant women are not only physiologically more vulnerable to heat stress, but also often face social and structural disadvantages that can amplify its effects on their health.”
Sferuzzi-Perri said that pregnancy presents a unique window to study these impacts, as conditions during pregnancy not only shape maternal well-being in the short-term, but also influence lifelong mental health vulnerabilities in future generations.
“Identifying key risks during pregnancy is essential for designing targeted strategies, and this work will drive innovations in interventions and policies to safeguard maternal and inter-generational health in a warming world,” she said.
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(Text by Cambridge Zero)