Dubbo mother Brooke Hayes, 31, sweltered through months of hot weather in the state’s central west before she gave birth to her daughter Faith at 33 weeks and five days’ gestation in March 2022.

“I work an outdoor job and it’s quite physical, I was out in 40-degree heat.”

Faith spent 17 days in the special care unit at Dubbo Base Hospital, where she was hooked up to oxygen, a continuous airway pressure machine, an IV drip and under UV light for jaundice.

Hayes said the experience was “definitely not what we prepared for” but Faith, now aged one, had been “overall very healthy … her development has been on par with her adjusted age”.

Births before 37 weeks’ gestation are a leading cause of neonatal and infant deaths worldwide, and many children born early have long-term health problems.

Gordon noted the data used in the Monash study did not distinguish between spontaneous preterm births or those brought on for medical reasons, such as a caesarean section or induced labour.

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She said this meant the analysis could over- or underestimate the link between extreme heat and preterm births.

“As you get closer to the 34- to 36-week mark, far more births are not spontaneous and are actually medically driven. What we do need in this whole area is better research on an individual level.”

Dr Kristine Barnden, an obstetrician and member of the advocacy group Doctors for the Environment Australia, said it was common practice for doctors to advise pregnant women to stay hydrated and out of the heat, but keeping cool was not an option for many.

“They haven’t got the housing, they can’t afford the air-conditioning, they may have to go to work,” she said. “It’s a public health issue.”

Barnden last week spoke about the effects of extreme heat on pregnant women at a senate committee hearing for independent Senator David Pocock’s “duty of care” bill, which seeks to enforce measures that would prevent harm to current and future generations due to climate change.

The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists has backed the bill, saying evidence shows preterm births, low birth weight, miscarriage and stillbirth were more prevalent during and after heatwaves and bushfires.

Susan Thompson, a professor of planning at UNSW’s City Futures Research Centre, said green space was increasingly critical to mental and physical wellbeing as cities became hotter and denser.

Thompson said the cost of land and the need for strategic planning were often barriers to delivering public green spaces; however, it must be a priority for planning authorities.

“Without the health benefits of having green space, ultimately the cost is going to be much, much higher in looking after people as we get sick.”

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