Summary: Researchers report that exposure to hot, humid weather can trigger mental health symptoms that require emergency care.
Font: University at Albany
Exposure to sunny, hot, and humid weather can trigger serious symptoms of mental disorders that require emergency care. So reports a recent study, led by researchers at the University at Albany, that used data on New York state weather and emergency hospital visits to assess how summer weather characteristics affect people with mental disorders. .
The research was the first to assess the combined effects of multiple meteorological factors on all classes of mental disorders designated by the World Health Organization.
These findings, published in International Environmentcould inform strategies to improve patient care.
Lead author Xinlei Deng, who completed his Ph.D. in May in UAlbany’s Department of Environmental Health Sciences, says, “We know that weather affects mood. But while a bright, warm day is a pick-me-up for some, others may be more easily agitated or quicker to anger. For people with mental disorders, changes in multiple climatic factors can trigger symptoms that pose serious health risks.”
“By examining local weather conditions in conjunction with information on emergency department visits, we find clear trends connecting elevated heat, humidity, and sun exposure with increased emergency admissions due to mental disorders, especially among patients suffering from symptoms related to the use of psychoactive substances, mood disorders, stress and behavioral disorders in adults, which may include forms of violence such as pyromania.
“Understanding these connections can help care providers shape interventions to protect patient well-being.”
The state analysis included two six-month study periods, focusing on the warmest months: May-October, in 2017 and 2018.
The team leveraged weather data from NYS Mesonet, a UAlbany-operated network of 126 weather stations across New York’s counties and boroughs, which record atmospheric and ground conditions at 5-minute intervals. Their study analyzed data on temperature, solar radiation, relative humidity, heat index, and rainfall.
Emergency department visits for mental disorders were identified using the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10). Disorders are coded by subtypes, which include categories such as stress-related disorders, intellectual disabilities, and intentional self-harm.
During the study periods, there were 547,540 emergency department visits attributed to mental disorders in New York State. To link local weather conditions and emergency department visits, each case’s residential address was geocoded and matched to the nearest Mesonet station. Information on patient diagnoses and demographics was obtained from the New York State Cooperative Planning and Research System, a mandatory hospital discharge database that covers ~95% of hospitals in the state.
The results showed that the combination of high temperature, solar radiation and relative humidity posed the highest risk of symptoms of serious mental disorder. The effects were strongest in the summer transition months of September and October. The most affected populations included: men, Hispanics and African Americans, people ages 46 to 65, Medicaid or Medicare subscribers, and people without insurance.
Various classes of mental disorders clearly responded to certain combinations of climatic conditions. For example, hospitals reported an increase in emergency room visits due to psychoactive substance use (eg, alcohol or opioid use) when solar radiation, temperature, heat index, and humidity were elevated.
Severe symptoms of mood disorders, including depression and bipolar disorders, coincided with less sun and high heat.
“As extreme heat becomes more intense and more frequent due to climate change, we can expect these changes to have adverse physiological effects on people,” said Shao Lin, lead author of the study and professor at the School of Health. UAlbany Public.
“People with mental disorders are especially vulnerable to these changes, and our findings suggest that multiple simultaneous climatic stressors may compound health risk. Efforts to refine targeted care must take combined factors into account.”
Since weather-associated mental health symptoms can take time to manifest, the team measured “lag days” — the time between the onset of a particular weather condition and the date of hospital admission — to account for this lag. . They found that high temperature alone presented the most immediate short-term risk, while the heat index increased risk over a two-week period.
Deng, now doing postdoctoral work at the National Institutes of Health, explains: “As we learn more about the ways weather affects mental health, it’s critical to be more precise about the timing of symptoms.
Understanding lag effects could help hospital caregivers know when to prepare for larger numbers of patients in the wake of prolonged weather conditions that are known to exacerbate certain mental disorders.”
Public health agencies like the CDC could use these findings to establish early warning systems to prevent violence and related mental health syndromes. Proactive measures could include facilitating access to cooling centers and encouraging patients with relevant mental disorders to pay attention to heat waves and sun exposure, and shelter accordingly.
“Knowing that the transition months present the highest risk of severe symptoms tells us that early warning systems and related education should start in May and continue through September-October,” Lin said. “Policymakers can plan preparedness efforts using climate-related health risk thresholds.”
See also
“Weather and climate have profound impacts on health, directly from severe and dangerous weather to more indirect impacts from allergens and mental health,” said Jerry Brotzge, co-author of the article and program manager for New State Mesonet. York for a long time, who was recently hired as a state climatologist in his home state of Kentucky.
“Recent advances in weather observations collected at high temporal and spatial scales, such as those recorded by Mesonet, have the potential to revolutionize our understanding of how changes in climate drive changes in health. Once we better understand these relationships, we will be able to respond to patients’ needs more effectively.”
About this research news on climate change and mental health
Author: press office
Font: University at Albany
Contact: Press Office – University at Albany
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original research: Open access.
“Identify the joint impacts of solar radiation, temperature, humidity, and rainfall duration on the triggering of mental disorders using a high-resolution meteorological monitoring system” by Xinlei Deng et al. International Environment
Summary
Identify the joint impacts of solar radiation, temperature, humidity, and rainfall duration on the triggering of mental disorders using a high-resolution meteorological monitoring system
Background
Mental disorders (MD) are mental or behavioral patterns that cause significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Temperature has previously been linked to MDs, but most studies suffered from exposure misclassification due to limited monitoring sites. Our goal was to assess whether multiple meteorological factors could jointly trigger MD-related emergency department (ED) visits in the warm season, using a highly dense weather monitoring system.
Methods
We conducted a crossover study of cases stratified over time. Physician-related emergency department visits (primary diagnosis) for May through October 2017-2018 were obtained from the New York State (NYS) Discharge Database. We obtained solar radiation (SR), relative humidity (RH), temperature, heat index (HI), and rainfall from Mesonet, a real-time monitoring system spaced around 17 miles (126 stations) in New York State. We use conditional logistic regression to assess climate-DM associations.
Results
For each increase in the interquartile range (IQR), both the SR (excess risk (ER): 4.9%, 95% CI: 3.2–6.7%) and the HR (ER: 4.0%, 95% CI: 2.6–5.4%) showed the highest risk of MD-related emergency department visits with a delay of 0 to 9 days. While temperature presented a short-term risk (RE higher with a delay of 0 to 2 days: 3.7%, 95% CI: 2.5 to 4.9%), HI increased the risk during a two-week period (ER range: 3.7 to 4.5%). and hours of rain showed an inverse association with MD (ER: -0.5%, 95% CI: 0.9-(-0.1)%). Furthermore, we observed a stronger association of SR, RH, temperature, and HI in September and October. The combination of high SR, RH, and temperature showed the greatest increase in MD (ER: 7.49%, 95% CI: 3.95–11.15%). The climate-DM association was strongest for psychoactive substance use, mood disorders, adult behavioral disorders, men, Hispanics, African Americans, people ages 46-65, or Medicare patients .
Conclusions
The hot and humid climate, especially the joint effect of high solar radiation, temperature and relative humidity showed the highest risk of MD diseases. We found stronger climate-DM associations in the summer transition months, males, and minority groups. These findings also need further confirmation.
