BACKGROUND:The attitudes and engagement of health care staff with climate and social factors relevant to health are increasingly important as climate change intensifies. METHODS:We conducted secondary analysis of 296 survey responses from employees at health care safety net clinics and health centers across 48 U.S. states and territories to ascertain perception and engagement with climate risks and social determinants of health (SDOH) in their practices. RESULTS:Most participants demonstrated understanding, confidence, and engagement with climate risks and SDOH. Participants scored higher on SDOH metrics than climate metrics. There was moderate correlation between engagement with SDOH and engagement with climate-related health issues across domains of knowledge, confidence, perceived importance, and consultation with patients. CONCLUSIONS:Health care workers who engaged with SDOH in their practice were also more likely to consult with patients on climate-related health impacts, suggesting that climate exposures could be integrated into clinical care as SDOH are.

Buildings, parks, and roads are all elements of the "built environment," which can be described as the human-made structures that comprise the neighborhoods and communities where people live, work, learn, and recreate (https://www.epa.gov/smm/basic-information-about-built-environment). The design of communities where children and adolescents live, learn, and play has a profound impact on their health. Moreover, the policies and practices that determine community design and the built environment are a root cause of disparities in the social determinants of health that contribute to health inequity. An understanding of the links between the built environment and pediatric health will help to inform pediatricians' and other pediatric health care professionals' care for patients and advocacy on their behalf. This policy statement outlines community design solutions that can improve pediatric physical and mental health, and improve health equity. It describes opportunities for pediatricians and the health care sector to incorporate this knowledge in patient care, as well as to play a role in advancing a health-promoting built environment for all children and families. The accompanying technical report reviews the range of pediatric physical and mental health conditions influenced by the built environment, as well as historical and persistent effects of the built environment on health disparities.

Unprecedented heat waves can affect all persons, but some are more sensitive to the effects of heat, including children and adults with underlying health conditions, pregnant women, and outdoor workers. Many regions of the United States experienced record-breaking high temperatures in 2023, with populations exposed to extremely high temperatures for prolonged periods. CDC examined emergency department (ED) visits associated with heat-related illness (HRI) from the National Syndromic Surveillance Program and compared daily HRI ED visit rates during the warm-season months (May-September) of 2023 with those during 2018-2022. In the 2023 warm-season months, daily HRI ED visit rates peaked in several regions and remained elevated for a prolonged duration. More males than females sought care in EDs for HRI, especially males aged 18-64 years. CDC issued multiple public health alerts using the Epidemic Information Exchange system to bring attention to increases in ED utilization for HRI. Deaths and illnesses associated with heat exposure are a continuing public health concern as climate change results in longer, hotter, and more frequent episodes of extreme heat. Near real-time monitoring of weather conditions and adverse health outcomes can guide public health practitioners' timing of risk communication and implementation of prevention measures associated with extreme heat.

BackgroundFrontline clinics - primary care clinics that predominantly serve low-income and socially disadvantaged communities - are facing increasing impacts from climate-related extreme events. This study evaluated staff perspectives at frontline clinics on the health risks of climate change, the impacts of extreme events on their clinics and patients, and their motivators to improve climate resiliency.MethodsA national, cross-sectional survey was conducted of staff working at frontline clinics including administrators, case workers, and providers across the United States. Survey questions assessed clinic and respondent attributes, knowledge of health risks of climate change, preferences for climate change educational and operational resources, and clinic and patient climate impacts and resilience. The survey was distributed electronically to a convenience sample of primary care clinics and to the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) and National Association of Free and Charitable Clinics (NAFC) listservs. Data was collected from September to November of 2021. Respondents were current staff who consented to the survey. Responses were collected via Qualtrics, and the statistical analysis was completed using Stata.ResultsA total of 430 surveys were completed representing clinics in 43 states. Most (82.0%) respondents reported human activities were causing climate change. Over half (52.8%) of respondents reported an operational disruption to their clinic from extreme events in the past 3 years, and another 54.4% had plans in place to address risks from extreme events. The most useful resources identified to improve operational resilience were checklists and planning guidance. Over half (52.0%) of respondents reported they were motivated to use these resources to improve clinic preparedness. Most (84.4%) providers and case workers reported that climate change impacted patient health, however only 36.2% discussed health risks with patients, with barriers including more pressing topics and time available. Another 55.7% of respondents reported they were motivated to learn ways to help patients prepare for extreme events.ConclusionsClimate-related extreme events were reported to impact patient health and disrupt frontline clinic operations. Overcoming gaps in knowledge about climate change impacts on health and providing climate educational resources can engender motivation to improve clinic and patient resilience to climate change.

Climate change may increase the risk of adverse cardiovascular outcomes by causing direct physiologic changes, psychological distress, and disruption of health-related infrastructure. Yet, the association between numerous climate change–related environmental stressors and the incidence of adverse cardiovascular events has not been systematically reviewed. To review the current evidence on the association between climate change–related environmental stressors and adverse cardiovascular outcomes. PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library were searched to identify peer-reviewed publications from January 1, 1970, through November 15, 2023, that evaluated associations between environmental exposures and cardiovascular mortality, acute cardiovascular events, and related health care utilization. Studies that examined only nonwildfire-sourced particulate air pollution were excluded. Two investigators independently screened 20 798 articles and selected 2564 for full-text review. Study quality was assessed using the Navigation Guide framework. Findings were qualitatively synthesized as substantial differences in study design precluded quantitative meta-analysis. Of 492 observational studies that met inclusion criteria, 182 examined extreme temperature, 210 ground-level ozone, 45 wildfire smoke, and 63 extreme weather events, such as hurricanes, dust storms, and droughts. These studies presented findings from 30 high-income countries, 17 middle-income countries, and 1 low-income country. The strength of evidence was rated as sufficient for extreme temperature; ground-level ozone; tropical storms, hurricanes, and cyclones; and dust storms. Evidence was limited for wildfire smoke and inadequate for drought and mudslides. Exposure to extreme temperature was associated with increased cardiovascular mortality and morbidity, but the magnitude varied with temperature and duration of exposure. Ground-level ozone amplified the risk associated with higher temperatures and vice versa. Extreme weather events, such as hurricanes, were associated with increased cardiovascular risk that persisted for many months after the initial event. Some studies noted a small increase in cardiovascular mortality, out-of-hospital cardiac arrests, and hospitalizations for ischemic heart disease after exposure to wildfire smoke, while others found no association. Older adults, racial and ethnic minoritized populations, and lower-wealth communities were disproportionately affected. Several environmental stressors that are predicted to increase in frequency and intensity with climate change are associated with increased cardiovascular risk, but data on outcomes in low-income countries are lacking. Urgent action is needed to mitigate climate change–associated cardiovascular risk, particularly in vulnerable populations.

The health and economic impacts from infectious disease emergence are substantial. 1 Bernstein AS Ando AW Loch-Temzelides T et al. The costs and benefits of primary prevention of zoonotic pandemics. Sci Adv. 2022; 8eabl4183 Crossref Scopus (89) Google Scholar Pathogens that are transmitted, or spill over, between animals and people are the source of most emerging infectious diseases in humans. 2 Jones KE Patel NG Levy MA et al. Global trends in emerging infectious diseases. Nature. 2008; 451: 990-993 Crossref PubMed Scopus (5197) Google Scholar Indeed, spillovers sparked five viral pandemics from 1918 through to 2009 (1918 influenza, 1957–58 influenza, 1968 influenza, 2009 influenza, and HIV), and peer-reviewed evidence strongly suggests that COVID-19 was the result of spillovers too. 3 US Centers for Disease Control and PreventionPast pandemics. https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-resources/basics/past-pandemics.htmlDate accessed: August 7, 2023 Google Scholar , 4 Worobey M Han G-Z Rambaut A Genesis and pathogenesis of the 1918 pandemic H1N1 influenza A virus. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2014; 111: 8107-8112 Crossref PubMed Scopus (170) Google Scholar , 5 Kawaoka Y Krauss S Webster RG Avian-to-human transmission of the PB1 gene of influenza A viruses in the 1957 and 1968 pandemics. J Virol. 1989; 63: 4603-4608 Crossref PubMed Scopus (0) Google Scholar , 6 Mena I Nelson MI Quezada-Monroy F et al. Origins of the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic in swine in Mexico. eLife. 2016; 5e16777 Crossref Scopus (201) Google Scholar , 7 Sharp PM Hahn BH Origins of HIV and the AIDS pandemic. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Med. 2011; 1a006841 Crossref PubMed Scopus (819) Google Scholar , 8 Pekar JE Magee A Parker E et al. The molecular epidemiology of multiple zoonotic origins of SARS-CoV-2. Science. 2022; 377: 960-966 Crossref PubMed Scopus (93) Google Scholar , 9 Worobey M Levy JI Malpica Serrano L et al. The Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan was the early epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic. Science. 2022; 377: 951-959 Crossref PubMed Scopus (149) Google Scholar Spillovers are a reminder that humans are inherently part of nature and that human wellbeing is intertwined with that of animals and the environment. As such, adopting a One Health approach when addressing viral pandemic threats is imperative. 10 Keusch GT Amuasi JH Anderson DE et al. Pandemic origins and a One Health approach to preparedness and prevention: solutions based on SARS-CoV-2 and other RNA viruses. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2022; 119e2202871119 Crossref PubMed Scopus (38) Google Scholar

The warming of our planet matters to every child. Driven by fossil fuel-generated greenhouse gas emissions, climate conditions stable since the founding of modern pediatrics in the mid-nineteenth century have shifted, and old certainties are falling away. Children's physical and mental health are threatened by climate change through its effects on temperature, precipitation, and extreme weather; ecological disruption; and community disruption. These impacts expose and amplify existing inequities and create unprecedented intergenerational injustice. Fossil fuel extraction and combustion cause harm today and reach centuries into the future, jeopardizing the health, safety, and prosperity of today's children and future generations. Appreciating the unique vulnerability of their patients, pediatricians have become leading health advocates for climate actions necessary to protect all living and future children. Policies that reduce reliance on fossil fuels and promote cleaner air, facilitate walking and bicycling, encourage more sustainable diets, increase access to nature, and develop more connected communities lead to immediate gains in child health and equity, and build a foundation for generations of children to thrive.

BACKGROUND:Over 120 million people in the USA live in areas with unsafe ozone (O3) levels. Studies among adults have linked exposure to worse lung function and higher risk of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). However, few studies have examined the effects of O3 in children, and existing studies are limited in terms of their geographic scope or outcomes considered. METHODS:We leveraged a dataset of encounters at 42 US children's hospitals from 2004-2015. We used a one-stage case-crossover design to quantify the association between daily maximum 8-hour O3 in the county in which the hospital is located and risk of emergency department (ED) visits for any cause and for respiratory disorders, asthma, respiratory infections, allergies and ear disorders. RESULTS:Approximately 28 million visits were available during this period. Per 10 ppb increase, warm-season (May through September) O3 levels over the past three days were associated with higher risk of ED visits for all causes (risk ratio [RR]: 0.3% [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.2%, 0.4%]), allergies (4.1% [2.5%, 5.7%]), ear disorders (0.8% [0.3%, 1.3%]) and asthma (1.3% [0.8%, 1.9%]). When restricting to levels below the current regulatory standard (70 ppb), O3 was still associated with risk of ED visits for all-cause, allergies, ear disorders and asthma. Stratified analyses suggest that the risk of O3-related all-cause ED visits may be higher in older children. CONCLUSIONS:Results from this national study extend prior research on the impacts of daily O3 on children's health and reinforce the presence of important adverse health impacts even at levels below the current regulatory standard in the USA.

Importance:Climate change may increase the risk of adverse cardiovascular outcomes by causing direct physiologic changes, psychological distress, and disruption of health-related infrastructure. Yet, the association between numerous climate change-related environmental stressors and the incidence of adverse cardiovascular events has not been systematically reviewed. Objective:To review the current evidence on the association between climate change-related environmental stressors and adverse cardiovascular outcomes. Evidence Review:PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library were searched to identify peer-reviewed publications from January 1, 1970, through November 15, 2023, that evaluated associations between environmental exposures and cardiovascular mortality, acute cardiovascular events, and related health care utilization. Studies that examined only nonwildfire-sourced particulate air pollution were excluded. Two investigators independently screened 20 798 articles and selected 2564 for full-text review. Study quality was assessed using the Navigation Guide framework. Findings were qualitatively synthesized as substantial differences in study design precluded quantitative meta-analysis. Findings:Of 492 observational studies that met inclusion criteria, 182 examined extreme temperature, 210 ground-level ozone, 45 wildfire smoke, and 63 extreme weather events, such as hurricanes, dust storms, and droughts. These studies presented findings from 30 high-income countries, 17 middle-income countries, and 1 low-income country. The strength of evidence was rated as sufficient for extreme temperature; ground-level ozone; tropical storms, hurricanes, and cyclones; and dust storms. Evidence was limited for wildfire smoke and inadequate for drought and mudslides. Exposure to extreme temperature was associated with increased cardiovascular mortality and morbidity, but the magnitude varied with temperature and duration of exposure. Ground-level ozone amplified the risk associated with higher temperatures and vice versa. Extreme weather events, such as hurricanes, were associated with increased cardiovascular risk that persisted for many months after the initial event. Some studies noted a small increase in cardiovascular mortality, out-of-hospital cardiac arrests, and hospitalizations for ischemic heart disease after exposure to wildfire smoke, while others found no association. Older adults, racial and ethnic minoritized populations, and lower-wealth communities were disproportionately affected. Conclusions and Relevance:Several environmental stressors that are predicted to increase in frequency and intensity with climate change are associated with increased cardiovascular risk, but data on outcomes in low-income countries are lacking. Urgent action is needed to mitigate climate change-associated cardiovascular risk, particularly in vulnerable populations.

BACKGROUND: Extreme temperatures contribute significantly to global mortality. While previous studies on temperature and stroke-specific outcomes presented conflicting results, these studies were predominantly limited to single-city or single-country analyses. Their findings are difficult to synthesize due to variations in methodologies and exposure definitions. METHODS: Within the Multi-Country Multi-City Network, we built a new mortality database for ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke. Applying a unified analysis protocol, we conducted a multinational case-crossover study on the relationship between extreme temperatures and stroke. In the first stage, we fitted a conditional quasi-Poisson regression for daily mortality counts with distributed lag nonlinear models for temperature exposure separately for each city. In the second stage, the cumulative risk from each city was pooled using mixed-effect meta-analyses, accounting for clustering of cities with similar features. We compared temperature-stroke associations across country-level gross domestic product per capita. We computed excess deaths in each city that are attributable to the 2.5% hottest and coldest of days based on each city’s temperature distribution. RESULTS: We collected data for a total of 3 443 969 ischemic strokes and 2 454 267 hemorrhagic stroke deaths from 522 cities in 25 countries. For every 1000 ischemic stroke deaths, we found that extreme cold and hot days contributed 9.1 (95% empirical CI, 8.6–9.4) and 2.2 (95% empirical CI, 1.9–2.4) excess deaths, respectively. For every 1000 hemorrhagic stroke deaths, extreme cold and hot days contributed 11.2 (95% empirical CI, 10.9–11.4) and 0.7 (95% empirical CI, 0.5–0.8) excess deaths, respectively. We found that countries with low gross domestic product per capita were at higher risk of heat-related hemorrhagic stroke mortality than countries with high gross domestic product per capita ( P =0.02). CONCLUSIONS: Both extreme cold and hot temperatures are associated with an increased risk of dying from ischemic and hemorrhagic strokes. As climate change continues to exacerbate these extreme temperatures, interventional strategies are needed to mitigate impacts on stroke mortality, particularly in low-income countries.

Purpose of Review Organosulfur compounds are intentionally added to natural gas as malodorants with the intent of short-term nasal inhalation to aid in leak detection. Regulatory exposure limits have not been established for all commonly used natural gas odorants, and recent community-level exposure events and growing evidence of indoor natural gas leakage have raised concerns associated with natural gas odorant exposures. We conducted a scoping review of peer-reviewed scientific publications on human exposures and animal toxicological studies of natural gas odorants to assess toxicological profiles, exposure potential, health effects and regulatory guidelines associated with commonly used natural gas odorants. Recent Findings We identified only 22 studies which met inclusion criteria for full review. Overall, there is limited evidence of both transient nonspecific health symptoms and clinically diagnosed causative neurotoxic effects associated with prolonged odorant exposures. Across seven community-level exposure events and two occupational case reports, consistent symptom patterns included: headache, ocular irritation, nose and throat irritation, respiratory complaints such as shortness of breath and asthma attacks, and skin irritation and rash. Of these, respiratory inflammation and asthma exacerbations are the most debilitating, whereas the high prevalence of ocular and dermatologic symptoms suggest a non-inhalation route of exposure. Summary The limited evidence available raises the possibility that organosulfur odorants may pose health risks at exposures much lower than presently understood, though additional dose-response studies are needed to disentangle specific toxicologic effects from nonspecific responses to noxious organosulfur odors. Numerous recommendations are provided including more transparent and prescriptive natural gas odorant use practices.

Background Professional society conferences are integral to the medical profession. However, airline travel is a major contributor to greenhouse gas production, and the environmental impact of in-person attendance at an orthopaedic conference has yet to be described. With growing concern about the climate crisis, we sought to quantify the carbon footprint of in-person attendance to help potential attendees more consciously consider in-person attendance, inform strategies to minimize greenhouse gas emissions during travel to annual meetings, and increase awareness about and momentum for efforts in orthopaedic surgery to reduce the carbon footprint of society conferences. Questions/purposes (1) What was the magnitude of greenhouse gas production resulting from all-in-person 2019 American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society (AOFAS) annual meeting attendance in Chicago, IL, USA? (2) What was the magnitude of greenhouse gas production resulting from the all-virtual 2020 AOFAS annual meeting, and how does it compare with the 2019 AOFAS annual meeting carbon footprint? (3) To what extent could an alternative in-person meeting model with four or seven hubs decrease greenhouse gas production resulting from round-trip air travel compared with the 2019 AOFAS annual meeting? Methods A list of the postal codes and countries of all 1271 registered participants attending the four-day 2019 AOFAS annual meeting in Chicago, IL, USA, was obtained from AOFAS headquarters. The 2019 conference was chosen because it was the last pre-COVID meeting and thus attendance was more likely to resemble that at prepandemic in-person conferences than more recent meetings because of pandemic travel restrictions. We estimated carbon dioxideequivalent (CO(2)e) production from round-trip air travel using a publicly available internet-based calculator (Myclimate: https://co2.myclimate.org/en/flight_calculators/new). Emissions produced by the conference venue, car travel, and hotel stays were estimated using published Environmental Protection Agency emission factors. To estimate emissions produced by the all-virtual 2020 AOFAS annual meeting (assuming an equal number of attendees as in 2019), we used the framework published by Faber and summed estimated network data transfer emissions, personal computer and monitor emissions, and server-related emissions. Using the 2019 registrant list, we modeled four-hub and seven-hub in-person meeting alternatives to determine potential decreased round-trip air travel greenhouse gas production. Meeting hub locations were selected by visualizing the geographic distribution of the 2019 registrants and selecting reasonable meeting locations that would minimize air travel for the greatest number of attendees. Registrants were assigned to the nearest hub location. Myclimate was again used to estimate CO(2)e production for round-trip air travel for the hub meeting models. Results The total estimated emissions of the all-in-person 2019 AOFAS annual meeting (when accounting for travel, conference space, and hotel stays) was 1565 tons CO(2)e (median 0.61 tons per attendee, range 0.02 to 7.7 tons). The total estimated emissions of the all-virtual 2020 meeting (when accounting for network data transfer emissions, personal computer and monitor emissions, and server-related emissions) was 34 tons CO(2)e (median 0.03 tons per attendee). This corresponds to a 97.8% decrease in CO(2)e emissions compared with the in-person conference. The model of a four-hub in-person meeting alternative with meetings in Chicago, Santiago, London, and Tokyo predicted an estimated 54% decrease in CO(2)e emissions from round-trip air travel. The seven-hub meeting model with meetings in Chicago; Washington, DC; Dallas; Los Angeles; Santiago; London; and Tokyo was predicted to diminish the CO(2)e emissions of round-trip air travel by an estimated 71%. Conclusion The 2019 AOFAS annual meeting had an enormous carbon footprint and resulted in many individuals exceeding their annual allotted carbon budget (2.5 tons) according to the Paris Agreement. Hosting the meeting virtually greatly reduced the annual meeting carbon footprint, and our hub-based meeting models identified potential in-person alternatives for reducing the carbon footprint of conference attendance. Clinical Relevance Professional societies must consider our responsibility to decarbonizing the healthcare sector by considering innovative approachesperhaps such as our multihub proposalsto decarbonize carbon-intensive annual meetings without stalling academic progress.

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BACKGROUND AND AIM: Globally, extreme temperatures contribute to millions of deaths each year, including stroke-related deaths. However, existing environmental evidence has overlooked the distinct causes and mechanisms of different stroke outcomes. Stroke-specific studies have been limited to single-city or single-country analyses, that are limited by publication bias and generalizability. Within the Multi-country Multi-City (MCC) Network, we built a new mortality database for ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke to conduct a multi-national, multi-decade analysis on the relationship between extreme temperatures and the two most common causes of stroke. METHOD: We used a two-stage protocol to analyze stroke-specific deaths. In the first stage, we fitted conditional quasipoisson regression for daily mortality counts with distributed lag non-linear models for the temperature exposure in each city. In the second stage, the cumulative risk from each city was pooled using mixed effects meta-analysis, accounting for potential higher-level effect modification and clustering of cities with similar features. We compared temperature-stroke associations across country-level gross domestic product (GDP) per capita. We computed excess deaths in each city that are attributable to the hottest and coldest 2.5% of days. RESULTS: We collected a total of 3,443,969 ischemic stroke and 2,454,267 hemorrhagic stroke deaths from 522 cities in 25 countries. For every 1000 ischemic stroke deaths, we found that extreme cold and hot days contributed 9.1 (95% eCI:8.6,9.4) and 2.2 (95%eCI:1.9,2.4) excess deaths, respectively. For every 1000 hemorrhagic stroke deaths, extreme cold and hot days contributed 11.2 (95% eCI:10.9,11.4) and 0.7 (95% eCI:0.5,0.8) excess deaths, respectively. The study found that countries with low GDP per capita were at higher risk of heat-related hemorrhagic stroke mortality than countries with high GDP per capita (p=0.02). CONCLUSIONS: As climate change is driving more extreme temperatures and weather events, urgent attention to meaningful clinical outcomes can help identify and minimize the risk of death from stroke, especially in low-income countries.

OBJECTIVES:The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic led to the expansion of virtual medicine as a method to provide patient care. We aimed to determine the impact of pediatric and young adult virtual medicine use on fossil fuel consumption, greenhouse gas, and nongreenhouse traffic-related air pollutant emissions. METHODS:We conducted a retrospective analysis of all virtual medicine patients at a single quaternary-care children's hospital with a geocoded address in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts prior to (March 16, 2019-March 15, 2020) and during the COVID-19 pandemic (March 16, 2020-March 15, 2021). Primary outcomes included patient travel distance, gasoline consumption, carbon dioxide and fine particulate matter emissions as well as savings in main hospital energy use. RESULTS:There were 3,846 and 307,273 virtual visits performed with valid Massachusetts geocoded addresses prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic, respectively. During 1 year of the pandemic, virtual medicine services resulted in a total reduction of 620,231 gallons of fossil fuel use and $1,620,002 avoided expenditure as well as 5,492.9 metric tons of carbon dioxide and 186.3 kg of fine particulate matter emitted. There were 3.1 million fewer kilowatt hours used by the hospital intrapandemic compared to the year prior. Accounting for equipment emissions, the combined intrapandemic emission reductions are equivalent to the electricity required by 1,234 homes for 1 year. CONCLUSIONS:Widespread pediatric institutional use of virtual medicine provided environmental benefits. The true potential of virtual medicine for decreasing the environmental footprint of health care lies in scaling this mode of care to patient groups across the state and nation when medically feasible.

Background Hot, desert Gulf countries are host to millions of migrant workers doing outdoor jobs such as construction and hospitality. The Gulf countries apply a summertime ban on midday work to protect workers from extreme heat, although without clear evidence of effectiveness. We assessed the risk of occupational injuries associated with extreme hot temperatures during the summertime ban on midday work in Kuwait. Methods We collected daily occupational injuries in the summer months that are reported to the Ministry of Health’s Occupational Health Department for 5 years from 2015 to 2019. We fitted generalised additive models with a quasi-Poisson distribution in a time series design. A 7-day moving average of daily temperature was modelled with penalised splines adjusted for relative humidity, time trend and day of the week. Results During the summertime ban, the daily average temperature was 39.4°C (±1.8°C). There were 7.2, 7.6 and 9.4 reported injuries per day in the summer months of June, July and August, respectively. Compared with the 10th percentile of summer temperatures in Kuwait (37.0°C), the average day with a temperature of 39.4°C increased the relative risk of injury to 1.44 (95% CI 1.34 to 1.53). Similarly, temperatures of 40°C and 41°C were associated with relative risks of 1.48 (95% CI 1.39 to 1.59) and 1.44 (95% CI 1.27 to 1.63), respectively. At the 90th percentile (42°C), the risks levelled off (relative risk 1.21; 95% CI 0.93 to 1.57). Conclusion We found substantial increases in the risk of occupational injury from extremely hot temperatures despite the ban on midday work policy in Kuwait. ‘Calendar-based’ regulations may be inadequate to provide occupational heat protections, especially for migrant workers.

This Viewpoint discusses investments that can be made in the health care sector in committing to equitable, patient-centered climate action to jointly ensure care access as well as contribute to decarbonization.

Decision-makers discussing landmark agreements on health and biodiversity must include four actions to reduce the risk of animals and people exchanging viruses. Decision-makers discussing landmark agreements on health and biodiversity must include four actions to reduce the risk of animals and people exchanging viruses.

High ambient temperatures have become more likely due to climate change and are linked to higher rates of heat-related illness, respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, mental health disorders, and other diseases. To date, far fewer studies have examined the effects of high temperatures on children versus adults, and studies including children have seldom been conducted on a national scale. Compared to adults, children have behavioral and physiological differences that may give them differential heat vulnerability. We acquired medical claims data from a large database of commercially insured US children aged 0-17 from May to September (warm-season) 2016-2019. Daily maximum ambient temperature and daily mean relative humidity estimates were aggregated to the county level using the Parameter-elevation Relationships on Independent Slopes dataset, and extreme heat was defined as the 95th percentile of the county-specific daily maximum temperature distribution. Using a case-crossover design and temperature lags 0-5 days, we estimated the associations between extreme heat and cause-specific emergency department visits (ED) in children aged <18 years, using the median county-specific daily maximum temperature distribution as the reference. Approximately 1.2 million ED visits in children from 2489 US counties were available during the study period. The 95th percentile of warm-season temperatures ranged from 71 °F to 112 °F (21.7 °C to 44.4 °C). Comparing 95th to the 50th percentile, extreme heat was associated with higher rates of ED visits for heat-related illness; endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases; and otitis media and externa, but not for all-cause admissions. Subgroup analyses suggested differences by age, with extreme heat positively associated with heat-related illness for both the 6-12 year (odds ratio [OR]: 1.34, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.16, 1.56) and 13-17 year age groups (OR: 1.55, 95% CI: 1.37, 1.76). Among children with health insurance across the US, days of extreme heat were associated with higher rates of healthcare utilization. These results highlight the importance of individual and population-level actions to protect children and adolescents from extreme heat, particularly in the context of continued climate change.