Assertion Supported AI assessment confidence: 95% certainty 4/5 debate potential 2/5

Basu: Temperature-related health risks are higher for pregnant women than elderly

Dr. Rupa Basu · How air pollution and heat make pregnancy more dangerous · May 25, 2022 · at 10:46

Dr. Rupa Basu, environmental epidemiologist at the California Environmental Protection Agency, discusses findings from her pioneering research on ambient heat exposure and health risks.

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“I knew, like I said, that there was an association for the elderly with temperature and mortality and also morbidity meaning hospitalizations and emergency room visits, but for pregnant women, the associations were actually even greater than what we saw for the elderly, and that was kind of shocking to me. I don't think I was expecting that.”

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The claim, plainly

Dr. Rupa Basu's study on temperature and health outcomes found that epidemiological associations for pregnant women were greater than those observed for the elderly.

a quote alone can be ambiguous, so this restates it with the references and context of the conversation around it resolved. AI-written; the tape below the player is the source.

Assessment

Published epidemiological studies led by Dr. Rupa Basu confirm that temperature-associated risk increases for pregnancy and perinatal outcomes were substantially higher than those observed in her prior studies on elderly and general population mortality. Her California baseline mortality studies (Basu et al. 2008, 2011) estimated a 2.3% to 4.3% increase in mortality risk per 10°F increase in apparent temperature. In contrast, her studies on pregnancy outcomes reported an 8.6% to 11.6% increase in preterm delivery risk (Basu et al. 2010, 2017), a 10.4% increase in stillbirth risk (Basu et al. 2016), and a 13.0% to 15.8% increase in term low birth weight (Basu et al. 2018) for equivalent 10°F increases.

Basu, Feng, and Ostro (2008) and Basu et al. (2011) found elderly and non-accidental mortality risk increases of 2.3% to 4.3% per 10°F increase in apparent temperature.
Basu, Malig, and Ostro (2010) reported an 8.6% increase in preterm delivery per 10°F increase in apparent temperature (95% CI: 6.0–11.3%).
Basu et al. (2016, 2017, 2018) found associations between 10.4% and 15.8% for stillbirth, preterm delivery, and term low birth weight per 10°F increase in apparent temperature.

Checked against

[1] nih.gov [2] oup.com [3] semanticscholar.org [4] researchgate.net [5] nih.gov [6] scispace.com [7] nih.gov [8] nih.gov

Rupa Basu ambient temperature preterm birth 2010 odds ratio Rupa Basu temperature mortality elderly California Rupa Basu temperature pregnant women elderly effect size

assessed as of 2026-09-02

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Mentioned

Dr. Rupa Basu elderly pregnant women

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Assertion Supported

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Basu: Temperature-related health risks are higher for pregnant women than elderly

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