The Impact of Climate Change on Child Health

doi:10.1367/1539-4409(2003)003<0044:TIOCCO>2.0.CO;2

Ambulatory Pediatrics

Volume 3, Issue 1, January–February 2003, Pages 44-52

https://doi.org/10.1367/1539-4409(2003)003<0044:TIOCCO>2.0.CO;2 Get rights and content

Human activity has contributed to climate change. The relationship between climate and child health has not been well investigated. This review discusses the role of climate change on child health and suggests 3 ways in which this relationship may manifest. First, environmental changes associated with anthropogenic greenhouse gases can lead to respiratory diseases, sunburn, melanoma, and immunosuppression. Second, climate change may directly cause heat stroke, drowning, gastrointestinal diseases, and psychosocial maldevelopment. Third, ecologic alterations triggered by climate change can increase rates of malnutrition, allergies and exposure to mycotoxins, vector-borne diseases (malaria, dengue, encephalitides, Lyme disease), and emerging infectious diseases. Further climate change is likely, given global industrial and political realities. Proactive and preventive physician action, research focused on the differential effects of climate change on subpopulations including children, and policy advocacy on the individual and federal levels could contain climate change and inform appropriate prevention and response.

Section snippets

Air Pollution: Respiratory Problems

As products of fuel combustion, forest fires, and agricultural activities, air pollutants such as ozone, nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides, and particulate matter have adverse respiratory effects.¹⁸ Worldwide asthma rates have doubled in the past 15 years, with the greatest rises in children, particularly in African-American populations.¹⁹ Some of this doubling was likely due to increased pollutant concentrations.

Ozone's respiratory effects have been particularly well studied. Cough and asthma are

Thermal Extremes: Heat Stroke

Small changes in mean climate trigger large changes in heat wave frequency and severity. The frequency of extremely hot days in temperate zones doubles for every 2°C to 3°C rise in temperature during an average summer.³¹ Heat waves cause rash, syncope, cramps, exhaustion, and stroke.³² Heat stroke is the most serious outcome and results from impaired body thermoregulation. It can lead to fevers above 104°F, tachycardia, mental status changes, and death.³³ Data from US cities show increased

Food Availability: Malnutrition, Growth Retardation, and Developmental Delay

Climate change destabilizes agricultural production.⁵⁸ Increased evaporation dehydrates soils, and flooding salinates other arable land, diminishing agricultural area and productivity. An estimated 790 million people are presently undernourished in developing countries.³⁸ Undernourishment is a well-studied cause of stunted physical and intellectual development and increased disease susceptibility in children.38, 59 Climate change will increase the number of undernourished people in the

FUTURE WORK: RESEARCH, PEDIATRICIAN ACTION, AND POLICY CHANGE

The impact of climate change on child health covers a vast spectrum. This review has been limited by a lack of empiric data on the specific effects of climate change on children. To better understand what risks children will face, we need further research, pediatrician action, and policy change.

We need more data on how temperature elevations, weather changes, and ecologic alterations affect the health of age-adjusted populations. Only by delineating affected subpopulations can we accurately

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We included 16,879 daily heat-related hospitalizations among children younger than five years. Overall, heat wave exposure within two days was most related for heat-related hospitalizations in young children. The relative risk (RR) due to heat wave exposure within two days (lag2) (12 definitions: 70th to 90th percentile of maximum temperature) ranged from 1.038 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.971, 1.110) to 1.083 (95% CI: 1.036, 1.133). We found that boys were more vulnerable to heat exposure than girls. In addition, we found that urban areas were more vulnerable to heat exposure than rural areas.
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Soil contamination with Cryptosporidium is a serious environmental and public health concern. In this systematic review and meta-analysis we estimated the global prevalence of Cryptosporidium contamination in soil and evaluated its association with climatic and hydrometeorological factors. PubMed, Web of Science, Science Direct, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, and Wanfang were searched from database inception up to 24 August 2022. The initial search identified 3220 studies, of which 14 met the inclusion criteria. The results were pooled using a random-effects model, and the statistical heterogeneity among the included studies was examined using Cochrane's Q test and I² statistic. The estimated pooled global prevalence of Cryptosporidium in soil across all studies was 8.13 % (95 % confidence interval, 1.54–18.44). Meta-regression and subgroup analyses showed that Cryptosporidium prevalence in soil was significantly influenced by continent (p = 0.0002; R² = 49.99 %), air pressure (p = 0.0154; R² = 24.01 %), temperature (p = 0.0437; R² = 14.53 %), and detection method (p = 0.0131; R² = 26.94 %). These results highlight the need for increased surveillance of Cryptosporidium in soil and its risk factors to inform future development of environmental control interventions and public health policies.
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Neonates and children are more vulnerable to the negative impact of flood-related changes and may have a variety of detrimental negative impacts on their health. They are more prone to get various infectious diseases. They are also more vulnerable to malnutrition during floods. Flooding limits access to clean water as sewage overflows and contaminates nearby water sources. The polluted setting in the flood-affected area makes it difficult to ensure the hygiene of feeding equipment used to prepare infant formula. Breastfeeding may also become less effective due to the lack of privacy for women to breastfeed their kids while living in temporary shelters with other flood victims. In addition, milk production decreases and might even cease due to mothers’ reduced food intake and increased stress levels. Flooding may also cause supplemental feeding to deteriorate. The mothers and other primary caregivers usually lack the resources in affected areas to prepare supplemental diets for their kids, which further harm the babies. There is mounting evidence that children are more likely to develop clogged noses, itchy eyes, hoarseness, skin complications, and sneezing while living in humid areas.
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Extreme weather events affect crop yields and the average essential nutrients supply, such as folate, calcium, thiamine, and pyridoxine, which are critical during pregnancy [26]. Climate change also heavily affects children as their physical, physiologic, and cognitive systems are still developing [22, 27]. The critical health effects include increased respiratory and cardiovascular disease, injuries and premature deaths related to extreme weather events, variations in the prevalence and geographical distribution of food- and water-borne illnesses and other infectious diseases, and threats to mental health [28].
Climate change impacts are felt unequally worldwide; populations that experience geographical vulnerability, those living in small island states and densely populated coastal areas, and children and women are affected disproportionately. This scoping review aims to synthesize evidence from relevant studies centred on South Asia, identify research gaps specifically focused on children and women's health, and contribute to knowledge about South Asia's existing mitigation and adaptation strategies.
A research librarian executed the search on six databases using controlled vocabulary (e.g., MeSH, Emtree, etc.) and keywords representing the concepts “vulnerable populations” and “climate change” and “health impacts” and “South Asia.” Databases were searched from January 2010 to May 2020. Papers were screened independently by two researchers.
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The Impact of Climate Change on Child Health

Section snippets

Air Pollution: Respiratory Problems

Thermal Extremes: Heat Stroke

Food Availability: Malnutrition, Growth Retardation, and Developmental Delay

FUTURE WORK: RESEARCH, PEDIATRICIAN ACTION, AND POLICY CHANGE

J Allergy Clin Immunol

Lancet

Microbes Infect

Lancet

Int J Parasitol

Lancet

J Allergy Clin Immunol

Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol

Trends Immunol

Lancet

Lancet

Int J Parasitol

Int J Parasitol

Observed climate variability and change

Statement on the Status of the Global Climate in 1999

Global-scale temperature patterns and climate forcing over the past six centuries

Nature

Third Assessment Report of Working Group I: The Science of Climate Change

Summary for Policy Makers: Climate Change 2001: The Scientific Basis

Spatial distribution of trends and seasonality in the hemispheric sea ice covers

J Geophys Res

Thinning of Arctic sea ice cover

J Geophys Res

Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion: 1994

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Working Group I Summary for Policy Makers, Third Assessment Report. Climate Change 2001: The Scientific Basis

Majority view of climate scientists is that global warming is indeed happening

BMJ

Quantifying global warming from the retreat of glaciers

Science

Variability in the El Nino-Southern Oscillation through a glacial-interglacial cycle

Science

Climate change and carbon dioxide: an introduction

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A

Climate and atmospheric history of the past 420,000 years from Vostok ice core, Antarctica

Nature

Radiative forcing of climate change

Ice-core record of atmospheric methane over the past 160,000 years

Nature

Health and environment in sustainable development: 5 years after the Earth summit [press release]

The potential impacts of climate variability and change on air pollution-related health effects in the United States

Environ Health Perspect

NHLBI reports new asthma data for World Asthma Day 2001: Asthma still a problem but more groups fighting it [press release]

Impact of changes in transportation and commuting behaviors during the 1996 summer Olympic games in Atlanta on air quality and childhood asthma

JAMA

Pesticides in the Diets of Infants and Children

Children and Ozone Air Pollution

Ozone Depletion Glossary

Increased polar stratospheric ozone losses and delayed eventual recovery owing to increasing greenhouse-gas concentrations

Nature

The skin cancer cascade: from ozone depletion to melanoma—some definitions and some new interpretation

J Dermatol

Skin Cancer Fact Sheet

Melanoma Risk Factors Fact Sheet

Global climate change and emerging infectious diseases

JAMA

Contribution of Working Group I to the Second Assessment Report of IPCC

Heat waves and hot environments

Medical aspects of global warming

Am J Ind Med

The impact of climate change on human health: some international implications

Experientia

Outdoor air temperature and mortality in the Netherlands: a time series analysis

Am J Epidemiol

Mortality in Chicago attributed to the July 1995 heat wave

Am J Public Health

The potential impacts of climate variability and change on temperature-related morbidity and mortality in the United States

Environ Health Perspect

Technical Summary: Impacts, Adaptations, and Vulnerability

The potential impacts of climate variability and change on health impacts of extreme weather events in the United States

Environ Health Perspect