With funding from the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Health, researchers from the University of Pittsburgh and Magee-Womens Hospital in Pittsburgh have teamed up to improve sustainable childbirth procedures through vaginal delivery and birth by cesarean section.

The study, published online in Science of the Total Environment, is the first of its kind to examine infant birth using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), a technique that assesses the environmental impacts associated with all stages of a product’s or procedure’s life.

“We are deeply interested in understanding the relationship between the delivery of medical care and our environment,” said Melissa Bilec, assistant professor in the Swanson School of Engineering and assistant director of education and outreach at the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation. “We utilized LCA to make suggestions on ways to save energy, improve the health of our environment and address patient or worker safety.”

The research team used LCA to evaluate medical devices and procedures used during infant birth. The major components evaluated were the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning system in the hospital (HVAC), as well as lighting, machines, surgical instruments and disposable custom packs like patient gowns and toiletries associated with each mode of birth.

Researchers also evaluated the sterilization, decontamination and waste segregation for disposable materials.

“We found that energy consumption resulting from HVAC, the impacts of the waste involved with disposable custom packs, and the production of disposable custom packs contributed to the highest environmental impacts for both types of births,” Bilec said.

Using LCA, the team came up with a number of recommendations for Magee, including ways to increase HVAC control and environmentally preferred purchasing, as well as reduce reliance on disposable products and modified waste management.

“The collaboration with the Pitt engineers has been incredibly exciting for us at Magee because it’s allowed us to quantify environmental impacts that we wouldn’t have otherwise understood,” said Noedahn Copley-Woods, assistant professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences in Pitt’s School of Medicine and an OB/GYN physician. “This collaboration has helped direct our sustainability efforts and has generated enthusiasm among Magee employees for our greening efforts.”

Using information from the study, the Pitt-Magee team is now studying the environmental impacts of different modes of hysterectomies to develop its understanding of the carbon footprint of other medical procedures.

Additional researchers involved in the study were Amy Landis, an associate professor of engineering at Arizona State University, and Pitt engineering graduate students Nicole Campion, Justin Deblois and Cassandra Thiel.

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