Extreme heat and pregnancy complications: harnessing the diverse Australian climate and population for global answers
Year of award: 2023
Grantholders
Dr Caitlin Wyrwoll
University of Western Australia, Australia
Dr Brad Farrant
Telethon Kids Institute, Australia
Dr Silvana Gaudieri
University of Western Australia, Australia
Dr Shelley Gorman
Telethon Kids Institute, Australia
Prof Michael Kearney
University of Melbourne, Australia
Dr Erin Kelty
University of Western Australia, Australia
Alexander Larcombe
Telethon Kids Institute, Australia
Prof Peter Le Souef
University of Western Australia, Australia
Prof Shane Maloney
University of Western Australia, Australia
Dr Supriya Mathew
Menzies School of Health Research, Australia
Dr Veronica Matthews
University of Sydney, Australia
Prof Kerrie Mengersen
Queensland University of Technology, Australia
Dr Matthew Payne
University of Western Australia, Australia
Prof Christine Phillips
Australian National University, Australia
Prof Jane Pillow
University of Western Australia, Australia
Dr Carrington Shepherd
Curtin University, Australia
Dr Holger Unger
Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, United Kingdom
Dr Scott White
University of Western Australia, Australia
Project summary
Australia has a diverse climate and population. This context provides a unique opportunity to define the health implications of extreme heat exposure during pregnancy and extrapolate findings to a global context. This multidimensional proposal encompasses individual, population, and discovery science data. Three key aims encompass our proposal: 1) Lived Experience which includes Indigenous and recent migrant knowledge, 2) Environmental Epidemiology across the breadth of Australian climate zones, and 3) Biological Mechanisms utilising our established sheep model of pregnancy in environmentally controlled housing and human samples. These aims, along with community co-design and consultation, will lead to the development of approaches to minimise the adverse effects of extreme heat in pregnancy. The deliverables will include health education approaches for individuals and health care workers, identification of clinical applications for health management of pregnant patients in the heat, and development of new public health and policy approaches to preparedness, responsiveness, and secondary prevention for pregnant women in extreme heat. Key words: pregnancy, heatwave, physiology, epidemiology, at-risk populations.