Climate change is increasingly affecting weather patterns and leading to adverse weather events, which is likely to have negative impacts on the health of individuals with brain conditions. A team of researchers from UCL led by Professor Sanjay Sisodiya, emphasized the urgent need to understand the impact of climate change on people with neurological conditions to preserve their health and prevent worsening inequalities. They conducted a review of 332 papers published between 1968 and 2023 and considered 19 different nervous system conditions, including stroke, migraine, Alzheimer’s, meningitis, epilepsy, and multiple sclerosis. The team also analyzed the impact of climate change on psychiatric disorders such as anxiety, depression, and schizophrenia.
The researchers found that extreme temperatures, both high and low, as well as greater temperature variations, especially seasonally unusual measures, can impact brain diseases. Higher nighttime temperatures can disrupt sleep, which is known to worsen many brain conditions. For individuals with stroke, higher ambient temperatures or heatwaves have been associated with increased admissions, disability, or mortality. People with dementia are vulnerable to harm from extreme temperatures and weather events due to cognitive impairment limiting their ability to adapt behavior to environmental changes. This vulnerability is compounded by frailty, multimorbidity, and psychotropic medications, leading to increased dementia-associated hospitalizations and mortality during hotter weather.
Adverse weather events and global temperature increases are exposing populations to worsening environmental factors that may not have been severe enough to affect brain conditions in earlier studies. It is crucial to ensure that research is up to date and considers both the present state of climate change and future scenarios. The team highlights the challenges of estimating health consequences on brain diseases under future climate scenarios and the need for agile and dynamic research to provide useful information to individuals and organizations. The researchers also address the concept of climate anxiety, noting that many brain conditions are associated with a higher risk of psychiatric disorders like anxiety, which can further complicate the impacts of climate change.
The study was published ahead of The Hot Brain 2 event led by Professor Sisodiya, which aims to raise awareness about the risks of climate change for brain and neurological healthcare, nurture global collaborative research, and promote action against climate change. The meeting will also focus on fostering adaptation strategies to mitigate the impacts of climate change on brain health. The research was funded by the Epilepsy Society and the National Brain Appeal Innovation Fund. Overall, the research highlights the urgent need to address the impact of climate change on people with neurological conditions and mental health disorders, as well as the necessity of taking actions now to preserve brain health in a changing climate.