Abstract
There is increasing evidence that exposure to weather-related hazards like storms and floods adversely affects mental health. However, evidence of treated and untreated mental disorders based on diagnostic criteria for the general population is limited. We analysed the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey, a large probability sample survey of adults in England (n = 7525), that provides the only national data on the prevalence of mental disorders assessed to diagnostic criteria. The most recent survey (2014–2015) asked participants if they had experienced damage to their home (due to wind, rain, snow or flood) in the six months prior to interview, a period that included months of unprecedented population exposure to flooding, particularly in Southern England. One in twenty (4.5%) reported living in a storm- or flood-damaged home in the previous six months. Social advantage (home ownership, higher household income) increased the odds of exposure to storm or flood damage. Exposure predicted having a common mental disorder over and above the effects of other known predictors of poor mental health. With climate change increasing the frequency and severity of storms and flooding, improving community resilience and disaster preparedness is a priority. Evidence on the mental health of exposed populations is key to building this capacity.
Highlights
Climate change is increasing population exposure to weather-related hazards, such as extreme precipitation events, storms and flooding [1,2]
Storm- and flood-related damage was significantly associated with common mental disorder (CMD) (p < 0.01)
Evidence on the mental health of affected populations is recognized to be an important element of such strategies; studies of populations experiencing flooding have found stronger associations with mental than physical health [37,38,39,40,41,42,43], with rates of CMDs like depression and anxiety elevated among those whose homes are flooded [6,44]
Summary
Climate change is increasing population exposure to weather-related hazards, such as extreme precipitation events, storms and flooding [1,2]. Exposure to extreme weather events such as flooding results in ‘psychological casualties’ [5], with significant impacts on mental health. Capturing the mental health impacts of extreme weather events such as storms and floods presents many research challenges. Large representative surveys are required to compare the mental health of exposed and non-exposed populations in analyses with measures of other factors (for example, an individual’s financial circumstances) that may explain associations between storm or flood exposure and mental ill-health. A review of evidence on the mental health of flood-exposed populations found that the large majority (77%) of studies did not include a comparison group and noted a lack of attention to potential confounders like socioeconomic status [6]. Well-resourced health surveys are equipped to collect such information for large population surveys [7]
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