Global call to understand intersectionality between heat exposure and perinatal mental health

Abstract

Increasing heat events, due to human induced climate change have shown to affect vulnerable populations such as pregnant and postpartum women and their mental health. Moreover, consequences of heat events can be unevenly distributed, affecting communities with existing structural discrimination and socially and economically disadvantaged populations. The risk of perinatal depression might be higher in pregnant and postpartum women. In this commentary, we argue, based on the review of literature, that there is a quintessential need for scientific research to investigate the interlinkage between heat events and perinatal depression.