A pioneering study has revealed extensive health risks posed by long-term weather extremes in the UK, as the effects of climate change intensify.
Led by the University of Bristol (UoB), the review unites the views of leading climate scientists, meteorologists and public health doctors.
It shows how prolonged exposure to extreme temperatures is linked to cognitive decline, kidney disease, skin cancer and the spread of infectious diseases.
Lead author Dann Mitchell said they are aware of some “strong links”, which “give cause for significant concern”.
While the negative impact of weather extremes on heart and lung health are widely known, this research gives a more comprehensive picture of the “interrelated implications”, a UoB spokesperson said.
‘Long-term exposure’
Experts found “frequent and lasting weather extremes, such as with heatwaves and flooding, exacerbate mental health problems and the spread of infectious diseases”.
The study observed also states that long-term heat exposure can disrupt sleep, which is associated with cognitive decline and conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.
Cold weather may also result in more injuries from falls, or poor mental health through isolation, joint pain, and sedentary behaviours such as sitting and lying down.
Mr Mitchell, professor of climate science at UoB, said: “Chiefly this report shows the potentially very serious mortality and morbidity tolls from long-term exposures to changed weather patterns, not currently captured in our climate risk assessments.”
Mr Mitchell said that not enough is known about how hotter temperatures or continuous flooding may interact with various ailments.
However, he added that “multi-year heat stress will likely exacerbate underlying health conditions, such as kidney diseases”, but that more research needs to be done to determine the long-term effects.
“Using the UK as an example, we have set the stage for a globally-complete analysis of climate and health,” Mr Mitchell continued.
“[This] will provide a much-needed update to the current estimate, which only deals with a subset of diseases and is critically out of date.”
Co-author and fellow UoB researcher, Dr Eunice Lo, said the next steps involve analysing more long-term data alongside “other factors that affect health over time”.
What is climate change?
Climate change is the long-term shift in the Earth’s average temperatures and weather conditions.
Over the last decade, the world was on average around 1.2C warmer than during the late 19th Century.
It has now been confirmed that global warming exceeded 1.5C across the 12 month period between February 2023 and January 2024. That followed 2023 being declared the warmest year on record.
The temperature increase was driven by human-caused climate change and boosted by the natural El Niño weather phenomenon.
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