Health Effects Of Climate Change Research Articles

Climate Change and Physiatry: A Call to Proportional and Prospective Action.

Through increased temperature-related illness, exposure to wildfire smoke and air pollutants, and more frequent and intense natural disasters, climate change is disproportionately affecting the health of people with disabilities. Although the evidence behind the health effects of climate change is growing, there remain critical research gaps in the physiatric literature that must be addressed. Increased education throughout the medical-education continuum is also needed to prepare physiatrists to address the climate-related health effects impacting their patient populations. Physiatrists and their member organizations should advocate for policies that address climate change with a focus on the unique needs of their patient population and the inclusion of people with disabilities in the policy making process.

The Negative Bidirectional Interaction Between Climate Change and the Prevalence and Care of Liver Disease: A Joint BSG, BASL, EASL, and AASLD Commentary

The Negative Bidirectional Interaction Between Climate Change and the Prevalence and Care of Liver Disease: A Joint BSG, BASL, EASL, and AASLD Commentary

Impact of Awareness Program Regarding Health Consequences of Climate Change on Knowledge, Perception and Daily Life practices among Nursing Students

Impact of Awareness Program Regarding Health Consequences of Climate Change on Knowledge, Perception and Daily Life practices among Nursing Students

The climate change hypothesis for the allergy epidemic

The health consequences of climate change are being increasingly recognized. Herein, the climate change hypothesis is put forth as a substantial contributor to the growing global allergy epidemic. Acall for deeper research and action on the impact of climate change on various aspects of allergic disease mechanisms, exacerbation, and prevalence is imperative.

Climate Change: Effects on the Older Adult

The effects of climate change include floods, hurricanes, heat waves, and fires; these natural disasters can result in respiratory, cardiovascular, and psychological harm in older adults, who experience the highest morbidity and mortality during heat waves. Advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) need education on preparing, assessing, and treating older adults for climate-change disasters, especially heat waves. This article will help APRNs understand the effects of climate-change events on the vulnerable older adults and advocates for the need to integrate health effects of climate change into curricula, practicums, policy, and research agendas.

Climate advocacy among Italian pediatric pulmonologists: A national survey on the effects of climate change on respiratory allergies.

Climate change (CC) is expected to negatively impact respiratory health due to air pollution and increased aeroallergen exposure. Children are among the most vulnerable populations due to high ventilation rates, small peripheral airways, and developing respiratory and immunological systems. To assess the current knowledge among Italian pediatric pulmonologists on the potential effects of CC on pediatric respiratory allergic diseases, a national survey was launched online from February 2020 to February 2021. The members of the Italian Pediatric Respiratory Society (SIMRI) were contacted by email and 117 questionnaires were returned (response rate 16.4%). 72.6% of respondents were females, 53.8% were academic pediatricians, 42.7% had been working >10 years. Most of the participants were aware of the potential health effects of CC and stated that they had noticed an increase in the incidence (90.6%) and severity (67.5%) of allergic respiratory diseases among their patients. About 61% and 41% of participants respectively felt that there had been an increase in the number of children sensitized to pollen and molds. When applying latent class analysis to identify the features characterizing participants with greater awareness and knowledge of CC‐related health effects, two classes were identified: almost 60% of the participants were labeled as “poor knowledge” and those with greater awareness were older, had longer work experience, and were those using the Internet to gather information about CC. There is urgent need to increase pediatricians' awareness of the detrimental effects of CC on children's respiratory health and integrate them in the educational programs of healthcare professionals.

Validity and Reliability of the Korean Version of the Climate, Health, and Nursing Tool

Climate change has various negative effects on human health, which has resulted in increased burden on the health care system. Nurses contribute significantly to assessing climate-related health risks and creating a healthy environment. This study aimed to evaluate the reliability and validity of the Korean version of the Climate, Health, and Nursing Tool (K-CHANT) to measure nurses' awareness, motivation, concern, and behaviors at work and at home regarding climate change and health. The 22 items of English CHANT were translated into Korean with forward-backward translation techniques. Internal consistency reliability, test-retest reliability, and construct validity using confirmatory factor analysis were performed using SPSS WIN (25.0) and AMOS (26.0). Survey data were collected from 220 master's, doctoral, and post-doctoral nursing students. The K-CHANT consists of 20 items across 5 domains. Two items of the original CHANT were excluded because of low content validity index and standardized regression weights. The internal consistency reliability of the K-CHANT, assessed by Cronbach's αá was .81, with an intraclass correlation coefficient of .66~.90. The five subscales model was validated by confirmatory factor analysis (SRMR < .08, RMSEA < .08, AGFI > .70, CFI > .70). The K-CHANT has satisfactory construct validity and reliability to measure nurses' awareness, motivation, concern, and behaviors at work and at home regarding climate change and health. Future research should examine nurses' perceptions and behaviors related to the health effects of climate change and develop an action plan to improve it.

Seasonal Variability Influence on the Prevalence of Diarrhoea among Under-Five-Year-old Children in Kersa District, Eastern Ethiopia: A Community-Based Longitudinal Study

Background:The health effects of climate change have been found to be a global concern for the last 2 centuries. However, the effect of climate variability on diarrhoea among under-five-year-old children is perhaps undocumented or otherwise unknown. The aim of the present study was to determine the effect of climate variability on diarrhoea among children under 5 years of age.Methods:A community-based longitudinal study was conducted over 8 repeated visits from June 2016 to May 2018 at the Kersa Demographic Surveillance and Health Research Center. A total of 500 randomly selected households and their 48 improved water sources were included in the survey from 3 agro-ecological zones, the rural and urban areas of the study area. Data was collected on household characteristics, diarrhoea, WASH practices, water quality and quantity in households, and improved water sources. A structured pre-tested questionnaire, an observational check list and laboratory tests were used for data collection. The data was entered into Epi Data Version 3.01 and transferred to Stata Version 12 for analysis. Multilevel mixed-effect Poisson regression was used to determine the relationship between predictors and outcome variables. A P-value of less than .05 was the cut-off point for statistically significant.Results:The prevalence of diarrhoea in 2 weeks among children under 5 years of age was 17.2% (95% CI: 15.8-19.71). Rainfall, E. coli contamination of drinking water at the source and in the home, 20 L of water consumption per capita per day, sharing water sources with animals and home water treatment by residents of the mid- and lowlands were all predictors of diarrhoea. The space-time scan statistic confirmed that child diarrhoea had random variation in both space and time.Conclusion:Climate variability has influenced the prevalence of diarrhoea among under-five-year-old children. Climate-resilient measures should be taken to reduce the burden of diarrhoea in the community.

Coping and Adapting to Climate Change in Australia: Yoga Perspectives

Scientists caution against ignoring human-induced climate change and related health repercussions, with a growing body of literature highlighting the mental health effects of climate change and the importance of understanding coping and adaptation strategies. Less is known, however, about sustainable personal practices fortifying mental health in the context of climate change. The present study sought to investigate how long-term yoga practitioners (yoga therapists or yoga teachers) in Australia with a lived experience of climate change-related events are coping and adapting. The aim was to better understand participants' reports of climate change-related experiences and how yoga influences their mental health and choices in the face of climate change. Eleven in-depth telephone interviews were conducted and analyzed using an interpretive phenomenological methodology. Participants reported that their ongoing relationship with yoga influences how they cope with climate change-related stressors and their being-in-the-world, and how concern for all life bolsters their responses to climate change. The results illustrate the part yoga may play in supporting long-term practitioners to prepare for, cope with, and respond to climate change events and impacts. Offering inclusive, interdisciplinary yoga therapy and community-based networks fostering ethical living and response flexibility may prove beneficial not only for the mental health and coping ability of participants, but for the planet.

Opportunities for the Use of Brief Scalable Psychological Interventions to Support Mental Health and Wellbeing in the Context of the Climate Crisis

Climate change is negatively impacting mental health through multiple pathways. Research to date has largely focused on characterising the link between climate change and mental health and no mental health and psychosocial support intervention has been explicitly designed to address the mental health consequences of climate change. In this commentary, we argue that brief, scalable psychological interventions represent an opportunity to fill this gap. Brief psychological interventions have been shown to be effective in the context of disasters, armed conflict and displacement, which have all been predicted to increase because of climate change. Brief psychological interventions are also likely to be relevant in the context of chronic climate stressors including temperature and sea-level rise or droughts. Additionally, they hold the potential to be used within a prevention and promotion framework, which is likely to be relevant in the context of increasing cumulative and overlapping climate-related adversities. Finally, brief psychological interventions could address several implementation challenges resulting from global climate change and could also be integrated with other programmes, including those that support climate change adaptation and mitigation. Research is urgently needed to provide evidence for the implementation and effectiveness of brief psychological interventions in the context of climate change.

Climate-Related Disasters and Children’s Health: Evidence from Hurricane Harvey

Children have been theorized as vulnerable to the health consequences of climate change, but data limitations have hampered prior studies of climate-related disasters in the United States. In this article, the author exploits the interruption of a health survey in Houston by Hurricane Harvey, linked to local flooding data ( n = 1,123, ages 5–17 years). Multivariable models on a matched sample show that Harvey led to worse parent-reported health among children six to nine months later, particularly in flooded communities. Further evidence suggests that household life disruption and home damage were key mechanisms and that severe exposure correlated with larger health declines among immigrants, including Hispanic and Asian or other-race children and those younger than 10 years. Integrating these findings with life-course theory and climate science, the author argues that through disasters, climate change should be conceptualized as a risk factor for heath and intragenerational disparities within cohorts and for intergenerational inequalities as newer cohorts experience more extreme weather.

Climate Change Health Effects and What You Can Do.

Climate Change Health Effects and What You Can Do.

Understanding the Links Between the Climate Crisis and Child Health

Climate change has severe adverse effects on both child and adult health. It affects multiple body systems including the respiratory, immunologic, and neurologic systems. Increased temperatures, water and food insecurity, extreme climate events such as heatwaves and a loss of biodiversity all increase the prevalence of infectious and non-communicable disease. ISSOP is an international organization that works with social pediatrics and child health professionals in areas of health promotion, disease prevention, curative pediatrics and rehabilitation through participation in system development, policy-making processes and the publishing of international documents for guidance. The “Responding to the Impact of Climate Change on Children” webinar series is a global initiative that aims to highlight the importance of climate change and its adverse effects on child health. Eight structured two-hour webinars were held between February and September 2021. In this review, we aim to summarize the topics of the webinar series and provide recommendations to child health professionals which they can use in their academic and clinical practices. The consequences of climate change on health and, more specifically, child health, deepening inequalities and inequities, the essential role of youth, and the integration of climate change into health education will be discussed. Climate change is a public health emergency and requires everyone to take action. Healthcare professionals, as members of a respected and trusted occupation, must be made aware of the negative health consequences of climate change and play an informative role in society. The impact of such consequences that affect children’s health can be mitigated by increasing societal awareness of the effects of climate change, taking the relevant precautions and implementation of mitigation and adaptation strategies by parents and pediatricians.

Nurses as Boundary Actors in Sustainable Health Care: A Discussion Paper

The devastating global health impacts of climate change are becoming more apparent and more frequent. Health care systems are increasingly burdened by the response to these impacts. Paradoxically, as they respond to the negative health effects of climate change, these same resource intense health care systems are contributing to further climate change. Organizations and academics have issued a call to action for health care workers to mitigate climate change and promote environmental sustainability. Nurses are an integral part of health care systems but have been delayed in answering this call. In this paper we argue that nurses are particularly well suited to mitigating climate change in health care systems because their existing role is central to patient care, and as a result they interface with other health care providers and have developed proficiency in articulation work.

An Interdisciplinary Collaboration for Environmental Education

Climate change education in advanced practice registered nursing curricula prepares nurse practitioners to respond to the health effects of climate change. Knowledge of the relationship between human and environmental health is essential for nurse practitioners to identify, teach, and respond to the health effects of climate change in clinical and community settings. This article describes a webinar hosted by the Sarah P. Duke Gardens in partnership with the Duke University School of Nursing. Our webinar provided an opportunity for attendees to understand how gardening can mitigate climate change, the important relationship between human and environmental health, and nurses’ role in climate crisis.

Strengthening health promotion practice: capacity development for a transdisciplinary field.

The growing burden of non-communicable and newly emerging communicable diseases, multi-morbidity, increasing health inequalities, the health effects of climate change and natural disasters and the revolution in communication technology require a shift of focus towards more preventive, people-centred and community-based health services. This has implications for the health workforce, which needs to develop new capacities and skills, many of which are at the core of health promotion. Health promotion is thus being mainstreamed into modern public health. For health promotion, this offers both opportunities and challenges. A stronger focus on the enablers of health enhances the strategic importance of health promotion's whole-of-society approach to health, showcases the achievements of health promotion with regard to core professional competencies, and helps build public health capacity with health promotion accents. On the other hand, mainstreaming health promotion can weaken its organizational capacity and visibility, and bears the risk of it being absorbed into a traditional public health discourse dominated by medical professions. To address these challenges and grasp the opportunities, it is essential for the health promotion workforce to position itself within the diversifying primary care and public health field. Taking the transdisciplinary status of health promotion and existing capacity development systems in primary and secondary prevention and health promotion as reference points, this paper considers the possibilities to integrate and implement health promotion capacities within and across disciplinary boundaries, arguing that the contribution of health promotion to public health development lies in the complementary nature of specialist and mainstreamed health promotion.

Roles of health professionals in addressing health consequences of climate change in interprofessional education: A scoping review

Health professionals have key roles in addressing the health consequences of climate change. Climate change is the leading public health concern of the 21st century and has implications for population health globally. Our changing climate is exacerbating health conditions with both acute consequences as well as chronic health conditions including nutrition and food security; food- and water-related challenges; vector-borne illnesses; and extreme weather outcomes that include social disruption, physical displacement, injuries and death, and mental health consequences. Greenhouse gas emissions (GGEs) are responsible for the impact on climate and health. Expanding an understanding of the impact of climate and associated deleterious health consequences is critical in health professions education and within an interprofessional framework. A scoping review methodology was conducted of peer-reviewed academic and gray literature via bibliographic databases that included MEDLINE via PubMed, CINAHL Complete via Ebscohost, ERIC via Ebscohost, and Google Scholar. A total of 111 articles were included in our review with 74 papers yielded that were discussion papers, 24 quantitative studies, 4 qualitative studies, 1 mixed methods paper, 1 systematic review, 3 scoping reviews,1 integrative review, 1 toolkit and 2 posters/abstracts. Thematic analysis yielded five themes: curriculum (with subthemes of environmental sustainability, climate change and health, and planetary health); knowledge, attitudes, and skills; interprofessional education; educational strategies; and content. The results of this scoping review suggest that most literature was published in the disciplines of medicine and nursing and that few papers focused on the importance of interprofessional engagement among health professionals related to climate change and associated health consequences.

Health impacts of climate change on gender diverse populations: A scoping review.

To determine what is known about climate change health effects for gender diverse (GD) populations, and identify gaps in research, practice, education, and policy. A scoping review was conducted. Twenty-seven information sources met inclusion criteria. Natural disasters and inadequate disaster relief responses were identified as an overarching health threat for GD populations. Within this theme, four sub-themes emerged. No other climate-related health impacts for GD populations were mentioned in the sources reviewed. There are major gaps in knowledge about health implications of climate change for GD populations. Gender-sensitive data must be collected in order to better understand these threats and detect disparities. Currently most practice and policy recommendations focus on disaster relief. More research on the broad effects of climate change on GD populations is urgently needed to inform practice and policy. Climate change amplifies existing risks of adverse health outcomes. Because of discrimination, stigma, and violence, gender diverse individuals are particularly vulnerable.

Progress in understanding climate change's effects on children and youth.

Climate change remains a major threat to the health and well-being of children globally. This article reviews the myriad health effects of climate change on children throughout their lives and discusses ways in which the general pediatrician can be an advocate for climate solutions. Rising atmospheric temperatures, increased air pollution, and destabilized weather patterns all lead to adverse health outcomes for children and adverse obstetric outcomes. However, the impact of climate change is not evenly distributed. Children living in poverty are more likely to be adversely impacted by the changing climate. Ongoing and emerging research suggests that children are particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. The primary care pediatrician is encouraged to see this irrefutable evidence as a call to action for advocacy on behalf of our patients and the planet.

Uniting the Global Gastroenterology Community to Meet the Challenge of Climate Change and Non-Recyclable Waste

Uniting the Global Gastroenterology Community to Meet the Challenge of Climate Change and Non-Recyclable Waste