{
  "abstract": "Background: Repeated exposure to heat stress may adversely affect reproductive health, yet the population-level relationship between heat stress and infertility has not been well characterized.\n\nMethods: We conducted a global ecological analysis across 174 countries and regions from 1990 to 2021. Heat exposure was quantified as the annual number of days falling into four Universal Thermal Climate Index categories: moderate, strong, very strong, and extreme heat stress. We additionally constructed a weighted score combining very strong and extreme heat stress. Associations with male and female infertility prevalence were estimated using linear mixed-effects models.\n\nResults: Each additional day of very strong and extreme heat stress was associated with increases in male infertility ASPR of 1.292 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.675–1.908) and 1.654 (95% CI: 0.214–3.096) per 100,000 population, respectively. The corresponding increases in female infertility ASPR were 2.126 (95% CI: 0.785–3.467) and 7.133 (95% CI: 3.940–10.323) per 100,000 population, respectively. Higher weighted heat-stress scores were also consistently associated with greater infertility prevalence.\n\nConclusions: These findings suggest that recurrent heat-stress exposure may be associated with a higher population burden of infertility and support consideration of reproductive health in climate-change adaptation and heat-protection strategies.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Department of Nephrology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University (Zhejiang Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine)",
    "Department of Public Health, The Reproduction Hospital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region",
    "Guangxi Key Laboratory of Artificial Intelligence for Genetic Diseases of Long-dwelling Nationalities",
    "The Second Clinical Medical College, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University"
  ],
  "article_type": "research article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 9,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Dian Wang"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Jiahua Qian"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Xiaoming Zhang"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1,
        2
      ],
      "name": "Chunbao Mo"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3
      ],
      "name": "Yihao Chen"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Yuhe Si"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3
      ],
      "name": "Yicheng Wang"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Jianan He"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Jianxiong Ma"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/fc1e3ax8sw090.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.3389/fpubh.2026.1948152",
  "fulltext_url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13719622/?tool=EBI",
  "id": "fc1e3ax8sw090",
  "issns": [
    "2296-2565"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2026.1948152/full",
  "language": "eng",
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "heading",
      "Original Research"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "2307|Climate Change and Health Impacts"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7222510131",
  "pdf_url": "https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2026.1948152/pdf",
  "pmcid": "PMC13719622",
  "pmid": "42964441",
  "published": "2026-10-16",
  "publisher": "Frontiers Media SA",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/fc1e3ax8sw090.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:20:22Z",
      "native_id": "10.3389/fpubh.2026.1948152",
      "source": "crossref",
      "url": "https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2026.1948152/full"
    },
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-31T12:21:36Z",
      "native_id": "PMC:PMC13719622",
      "source": "europepmc",
      "url": "https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13719622"
    },
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-02T12:23:33Z",
      "native_id": "PMC13719622",
      "source": "pmc",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2026.1948152"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "openalex:2307|Climate Change and Health Impacts",
      "subfield": "pharmacology-toxicology"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Association between infertility prevalence and exposure to heat stress: an ecological study based on the Universal Thermal Climate Index",
  "title_text": "Association between infertility prevalence and exposure to heat stress: an ecological study based on the Universal Thermal Climate Index",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-03T12:20:39Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/fc1e3ax8sw090",
  "venue": "Frontiers in Public Health",
  "versions": []
}