Research links climate change and child health

22 February 2007
Amidst increasing concern about the effects of climate change, its impact on health and particularly the health of our young children has become an area of increasing concern for health professionals.

An epidemiological study by of young patients less than six years old suggests that climatic variables such as maximum daily temperature and UV index have a significant impact on emergency presentations of young patients.

Dr Lawrence Lam, Sydney University Senior Lecturer in the Discipline of Paediatrics and Child Health who is based at Westmead Hospital, used data collected on all young patients aged less than six years who presented at an Emergency Department for a period of two years. This was then measured against information on climate and outdoor air quality variables obtained from the Bureau of Meteorology.

The results which are published in the recent issue of the International Journal of Environmental Health Research suggest that climatic factors have an impact on the physical health of young children, with the maximum daily temperature shown to be a particularly significant.

"We showed that maximum daily temperature is strongly associated with emergency presentations of fever and gastroenteritis among young children, with UV index negatively associated with gastroenteritis. It has been suggested that the regulatory mechanism against climatic changes for children is much reduced due to their young age; they are particularly at risk of the effect of extreme changes" said Dr Lam.

"The results from this study suggest a detrimental effect from climatic changes, particularly in terms of maximum temperature, on children's health. As global warming is becoming more apparent, there is an urgent need for more in-depth and thorough investigation of climatic factors on human health, especially in early childhood,"said Dr Lam. "Interestingly, none of the climatic variables were found to be associated with emergency presentations due to respiratory problems," he said.

The duration of the study covers only two years which may not be long enough to have an accurate estimation of the trend and seasonality effects of climatic change on childhood illness. A more lengthy study should be able to provide better data for more refined analysis.


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