The mediation of the placenta on the association between maternal ambient temperature exposure and birth weight

Studies have indicated that exposure to low and high temperatures during pregnancy negatively affects fetal development. The placenta plays vital functions in fetal development and could also be impacted by suboptimal temperatures. However, whether the placenta mediates the association between suboptimal temperature and birth weight is unknown. Our study aims to evaluate the association between ambient temperature and birth weight as well as the mediation effect of the placenta. A prospective birth cohort study was conducted during 2017–2020 in Guangzhou, China (n = 3349 participants). We defined extreme temperature exposure during the whole pregnancy by using different thresholds, including low temperatures (< 25th, < 15th, < 10th, < 5th percentiles), and high temperatures (> 75th, > 85th, > 90th, > 95th percentiles). Three different approaches (generalized linear model, inverse probability weighting, and doubly robust model) were applied to estimate the effects of low/high temperatures on birth weight and placental indicators, including placental weight, placental volume, and placental–to–birth weight ratio (PFR), respectively. We observed that both low and high ambient temperatures during the whole pregnancy were associated with lower birth weight and negative changes in placental indicators. The estimated lower mean birth weight ranged from −158 g (95 % CI: −192 g, −123 g) to −363 g (95 % CI: −424 g, −301 g) for low temperatures and from −97 g (95 % CI: −135 g, −59 g) to −664 g (95 % CI: −742 g, −585 g) for high temperatures. In mediation analyses, placental weight mediated 28.79 % to 40.47 % and 48.22 % to 54.38 % of the association of low and high temperatures with birth weight, respectively. The findings suggest that placental weight may mediate the association between ambient temperature exposure and birth weight.