Abstract
Extreme weather events are increasing in frequency and severity as a consequence of climate change and pose a significant threat to population mental health. This is the case even in temperate regions such as the United Kingdom (UK) where flooding and heat waves are forecast to become more common. We conducted a systematic review to quantify the prevalence and describe the causes of common mental health problems in populations exposed to extreme weather events in the UK. We searched Web of Science, EMBASE and PsycINFO for studies that measured the prevalence of depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in populations exposed to extreme weather events in the UK, published up to 12 December 2019. We included 17 studies, four of which were included in meta-analyses to determine the point prevalence of common mental health problems in the period within 12 months following extreme weather events. The point prevalence was 19.8% for anxiety (k = 4; n = 1458; 95% CI 7.42 to 32.15), 21.35% for depression (k = 4; n = 1458; 95% CI 9.04 to 33.65) and 30.36% for PTSD (k = 4; n = 1359; 95% CI 11.68 to 49.05). Key factors that affected mental ill health in people exposed to flooding were water depth and absence of flood warnings. Displacement from home underscored the narratives associated with people’s perceptions of the impact of flooding. The high prevalence of common mental health problems suggests that the prevention of mental ill health in populations at risk or exposed to extreme weather events should be a UK public health priority.
Highlights
Anthropogenic changes to Earth’s biophysical systems have already had potentially irreversible impacts on the environment that are detrimental to physical and mental health [1]
We present the results of a systematic review to quantify the prevalence of common mental health problems in populations exposed to extreme weather events in the United Kingdom (UK)
Much lower prevalence rates for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were reported in a retrospective study of flooding in Hunan, China, in keeping with our findings, this study reported that flood severity and female sex were associated with higher odds of PTSD [47]
Summary
Anthropogenic changes to Earth’s biophysical systems have already had potentially irreversible impacts on the environment that are detrimental to physical and mental health [1]. These impacts are especially visible with respect to climate change. Direct exposure to extreme weather events such as hurricanes and flooding can lead to loss of life, but there are enduring impacts on people’s mental health These include depression, anxiety and mood disorders, post-traumatic stress, sleep disruption and suicide [5,6,7,8,9,10]. Mental health disorders are the third leading cause of years lived with disability, with a prevalence of greater than
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