Systematic Impact of climate change on birth outcomes: Systematic Literature Review

Background Climate change is increasingly recognized as a critical factor influencing public health, particularly affecting vulnerable populations like pregnant individuals and newborns. Emerging evidence suggests that climate-related factors significantly impact birth outcomes. This integrated literature review synthesizes existing studies to explore how temperature fluctuations affect maternal and neonatal health outcomes. This Review aims to investigate the impact of climate change on birth outcomes. Methods An integrative review method will be utilized in this study. The search process for this review will be conducted in electronic databases, namely Google Scholar, PubMed, CINHL, and Scopus. Keywords such as "high temperature," "low birth weight," "pregnancy outcomes," "premature," and "stillbirth" will be used to search for relevant studies related to the impact of climate change on birth outcomes. The literature reviewed will be limited to publications from 2020 to 2025. Only papers written in English will be considered, and those in other languages will be excluded. After assessment, data were extracted, and 53 articles were selected as being relevant to the study. Ethics and dissemination: Ethical approval is not required for this study. This integrative literature review will evaluate existing research on the impact of seasonal ambient temperature on infant birth weight in a selected hospital in the Vhembe district. The findings could inform future research examining the relationship between ambient temperature and infant birth weight. Systematic review registration : PROSPERO CRD420251160752.