How Climate Change Exposure During Pregnancy May Impact Infant Brain Development

Study Links Climate Disasters During Pregnancy to Lasting Changes in Children’s Brain Development.

A groundbreaking new study suggests that the effects of climate disasters may extend well beyond immediate physical destruction — reaching into the brain development of children who were still in the womb when such events occurred.

Published in PLOS One, the research focused on pregnant individuals affected by Superstorm Sandy in 2012 and found that children exposed to the storm in utero showed notable structural brain changes years later.

Key Findings
The study assessed 34 children, 11 of whom were in the womb during Sandy. By age 8, MRI scans showed an enlargement of the basal ganglia — up to 6% larger — in the exposed group, a brain region tied to emotion regulation and linked to conditions like depression, anxiety, and autism.

Researchers say these changes could affect children’s behavior and mental health, though more work is needed to establish direct outcomes.

“We believe these changes could lead to negative behavioral consequences,” said Donato DeIngeniis, lead author and doctoral researcher at the CUNY Graduate Center.

Heat + Storm Exposure: A Deeper Impact
Children whose parents also experienced extreme heat during pregnancy in addition to the storm showed even more pronounced brain changes — including imbalance in different areas of the basal ganglia, possibly indicating compensatory neural mechanisms due to early stress or injury.

A Broader Climate Health Warning
Lead author Dr. Yoko Nomura, a psychology professor at Queens College, was inspired to conduct the study after witnessing pregnant evacuees sheltering in distress on campus during Sandy. Her research underscores a growing scientific consensus that climate-related stress — from heatwaves to disasters — can influence fetal brain development.

Previous research like Canada’s Project Ice Storm has linked prenatal stress during natural disasters to lower IQ and emotional difficulties in children, but this is among the first to show brain structure differences using imaging techniques.

Cautions and Next Steps
While the study’s small sample size — due to COVID-19 delays and the cost of brain imaging — limits broad conclusions, experts still call it “trailblazing.”

“Small but mighty,” said Burcin Ikiz, chair of Columbia University’s Neuro Climate Working Group. “It’s a crucial early look at how overlapping climate stressors — like heat and disaster — may jointly affect children’s development.”

Researchers are currently expanding their work with a larger cohort of 80 children and plan to deepen their analysis of heat-specific impacts. But Nomura emphasized the urgency of sharing early findings to alert the public and healthcare providers.

“This is something expecting parents should be aware of,” she said. “And society must build strategies to protect pregnant individuals from climate-related stress.”