The Effect of Prenatal Exposure to Climate Anomaly on Adulthood Cognitive Function and Job Reputation

The long-term effect of abnormal climate on cognitive function and socioeconomic status remains elusive. We explored the association between prenatal exposure to climate anomaly and adulthood cognitive function and job reputation.

We obtained repeated cognitive and job reputation measurements from 17,105 subjects for the years 2010, 2014, and 2018, and ascertained their birth date and other covariates. We used sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies in the Southern Pacific Ocean as the indicator for global climate anomaly in the main analyses. We calculated its averaged values for different gestational periods and analyzed its possible nonlinear associations with adulthood cognitive function and job reputation. We also calculated associated economic loss due to prenatal exposure to abnormal climate.

We found an inverted U-shaped curve between climate anomaly and adulthood cognition. During the entire pregnancy, for SST anomalies increasing/decreasing 1 °C from 0 °C, newborn individuals will have adulthood cognition (measured by math test) changed by -2.09% (95% confidence interval (CI): -2.31%, -1.88%) and -3.98% (95% CI: -4.32%, -3.65%), respectively. We observed a similar inverted U-shaped pattern for cognitive function measured by word test and job reputation. Such an association is likely to be mediated by regional meteorological conditions, not local ones. Subgroup analyses identified females and people from less-developed regions as even more vulnerable to prenatal abnormal climate, finding an interactive effect with other social factors. The economic loss was assessed as the salary reduction due to declined cognition among all newborn individuals in China. For SST anomalies increasing/decreasing by 1 °C from 0 °C, individuals born each year in China would earn 0.33 (95% CI: 0.40, 0.25) and 1.09 (95% CI: 1.23, 0.94) billion U.S. dollars equivalent less in their annual salary at adulthood because of lowered cognitive function, respectively.

Prenatal exposure to abnormal global climate patterns can result in declined adulthood cognitive function, lowered job reputation, and subsequent economic loss.