Planetary Dysregulation and Our Mental Health

An out-of-balance planet leads to adverse mental health outcomes; we can act to avoid both.

Heat Index: An Alternative Indicator for Measuring the Impacts of Meteorological Factors on Diarrhoea in the Climate Change Era: A Time Series Study in Dhaka, Bangladesh

Heat index (HI) is a biometeorological indicator that combines temperature and relative humidity. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between the Heat Index and daily counts of diarrhoea hospitalisation in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Data on daily diarrhoea hospitalisations and meteorological variables from 1981 to 2010 were collected. We categorised the Heat Index of >94.3 °F (>34.6 °C), >100.7 °F (>38.2 °C) and >105 °F (>40.6 °C) as high, very high and extremely high Heat Index, respectively. We applied a time series adjusted generalised linear model (GLM) with negative binomial distribution to investigate the effects of the Heat Index and extreme Heat Index on hospitalisations for diarrhoea. Effects were assessed for all ages, children under 5 years old and by gender. A unit higher HI and high, very high and extremely high HI were associated with 0.8%, 8%, 7% and 9% increase in diarrhoea hospitalisations in all ages, respectively. The effects varied slightly by gender and were most pronounced in children under 5 years old with a rise of 1°F in high, very high and extremely high HI associated with a 14.1% (95% CI: 11.3–17.0%), 18.3% (95% CI: 13.4–23.5%) and 18.1% (95% CI: 8.4–28.6%) increase of diarrhoea, respectively. This suggests that the Heat Index may serve as an alternative indicator for measuring the combined effects of temperature and humidity on diarrhoea.

The 2024 report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: facing record-breaking threats from delayed action

Impacts of climate change on diarrhoeal disease hospitalisations: How does the global warming targets of 1.5–2°C affect Dhaka, Bangladesh?

Author summary Dhaka, a resource-constrained, crowded city in Southeast Asia, struggles with serious public health issues, especially a high number of diarrhoeal diseases. Climate change is worsening Dhaka’s environmental problems by making Dhaka hotter and deteriorating water quality. While some studies have already looked at how weather affects diarrhoea in Bangladesh, few have examined the future impact of climate change. This study explored how rising temperatures might affect diarrhoea in Dhaka in the future. Using advanced statistical methods, the researchers analysed information from nearly 3 million diarrhoea patients treated at a major hospital in Dhaka from 1981 to 2010. The study found that higher daily temperatures significantly increased the risk of diarrhoea for all age groups, even after considering other factors like heavy rain, humidity, and seasonal patterns. Based on future temperature predictions, even if global warming is limited to 1.5 to 2°C, as targeted by international agreements, diarrhoea cases could rise by 4.5% to 7.4% by the end of the century. The increase could be even higher for children under 5 years old, with hospital admissions going up by 5.7% to 9.4%. This highlights the need for Dhaka city to better prepare for managing and preventing diarrhoeal diseases in the future.

Is heat wave a predictor of diarrhoea in Dhaka, Bangladesh? A time-series analysis in a South Asian tropical monsoon climate

While numerous studies have assessed the association between temperature and diarrhoea in various locations, evidence of relationship between heat wave and diarrhoea is scarce. We defined elevated daily mean and maximum temperature over the 95th and 99th percentiles lasting for at least one day between March to October 1981–2010 as TAV95 and TAV99 and D95 and D99 heat wave, respectively. We investigated the association between heat wave and daily counts of hospitalisations for all-cause diarrhoea in Dhaka, Bangladesh using time series regression analysis employing constrained distributed lag-linear models. Effects were assessed for all ages and children aged under 5 years of age. Diarrhoea hospitalisation increased by 6.7% (95% CI: 4.6%– 8.9%), 8.3% (3.7–13.1), 7.0 (4.8–9.3) and 7.4 (3.1–11.9) in all ages on a TAV95, TAV99, D95 and D99 heat wave day, respectively. These effects were more pronounced for under-5 children with an increase of 13.9% (95% CI: 8.3–19.9), 24.2% (11.3–38.7), 17.0 (11.0–23.5) and 19.5 (7.7–32.6) in diarrhoea hospitalisations on a TAV95, TAV99, D95 and D99 heat wave day, respectively. At lags of 3 days, we noticed a negative association indicating a ‘harvesting’ effect. Our findings suggest that heat wave was a significant risk factor for diarrhoea hospitalisation in Dhaka. Further research is needed to elucidate the causal pathways and identify the preventive measures necessary to mitigate the impacts of heat waves on diarrhoea. Given that no heat wave definitions exist for Dhaka, these results may help to define heat waves for Dhaka and trigger public health interventions including heat alerts to prevent heat-related morbidity in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Child Mental Health and Climate Change Adaptation

A review of 160 national climate change adaptation policies found a complete absence of addressing child mental health.