Association between floods and the risk of dysentery in China: a meta-analysis

Impact of Climate Variability on Foodborne Diarrheal Disease: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

OBJECTIVE

To determine the impacts of climate variability on foodborne diarrhoeal disease worldwide.

METHODS

This work was performed based on PRISMA guideline. Articles were retrieved from the PubMed, MEDLINE, Web of Science, Scopus, DOAJ, and Google Scholar. The search was made using Boolean logic operators, medical subject headings, and main keywords related to foodborne diarrheal disease. STATA version 17 was used to perform an analysis. The quality of the articles was evaluated using Joanna Briggs Institute appraisal tools.

RESULTS

The present study included 54 articles with an estimates of 103 findings. An increases in temperature, relative humidity, precipitation, rainfall, and flooding were associated with 4% [RR: 1.04; 95% CI: 1.03, 1.05], 3% [RR: 1.03; 95% CI: 1.01, 1.06], 2% [RR: 1.02; 95% CI: 1.01, 1.03], 1% [RR: 1.01; 95% CI: 1.00, 1.02], and 42% [RR: 1.42; 95% CI: 1.26, 1.57] increases in foodborne diarrhoeal disease, respectively.

CONCLUSION

There was a significant association between foodborne diarrhoeal disease and climate variability, and indicate the need for building a climate-resilient food safety system to reduce foodborne diarrheal disease.

SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION

identifier CRD42024532430.

Climate and human health: a review of publication trends in the International Journal of Biometeorology

The climate-health nexus is well documented in the field of biometeorology. Since its inception, Biometeorology has in many ways become the umbrella under which much of this collaborative research has been conducted. Whilst a range of review papers have considered the development of biometeorological research and its coverage in this journal, and a few have reviewed the literature on specific diseases, none have focused on the sub-field of climate and health as a whole. Since its first issue in 1957, the International Journal of Biometeorology has published a total of 2183 papers that broadly consider human health and its relationship with climate. In this review, we identify a total of 180 (8.3%, n = 2183) of these papers that specifically focus on the intersection between meteorological variables and specific, named diagnosable diseases, and explore the publication trends thereof. The number of publications on climate and health in the journal increases considerably since 2011. The largest number of publications on the topic was in 2017 (18) followed by 2021 (17). Of the 180 studies conducted, respiratory diseases accounted for 37.2% of the publications, cardiovascular disease 17%, and cerebrovascular disease 11.1%. The literature on climate and health in the journal is dominated by studies from the global North, with a particular focus on Asia and Europe. Only 2.2% and 8.3% of these studies explore empirical evidence from the African continent and South America respectively. These findings highlight the importance of continued research on climate and human health, especially in low- and lower-middle-income countries, the populations of which are more vulnerable to climate-sensitive illnesses.

2021 Climate and Health Review - Uncharted Territory: Extreme Weather Events and Morbidity

Extreme weather events (EWEs) affected health in every world region during 2021, placing the planet in "uncharted territory." Portraying the human impacts of EWEs is part of a health frame that suggests public knowledge of these risks will spur support for needed policy change. The health frame has gained traction since the Paris COP21 (United Nations Climate Change Conference) and arguably helped to achieve modest progress at the Glasgow COP26. However, reporting rarely covers the full picture of health impacts from EWEs, instead focusing on cost of damages, mortality, and displacement. This review summarizes data for 30 major EWEs of 2021 and, based on the epidemiological literature, discusses morbidity-related exposures for four hazards that marked the year: wildfire smoke; extreme cold and power outages; extreme, precipitation-related flooding; and drought. A very large likely burden of morbidity was found, with particularly widespread exposure to risk of respiratory outcomes (including interactions with COVID-19) and mental illnesses. There is need for a well-disseminated global annual report on EWE morbidity, including affected population estimates and evolving science. In this way, the public health frame may be harnessed to bolster evidence for the broader and promising frame of "urgency and agency" for climate change action.