Health Consequences of Climate Change: A Systematic Review of Morbidity and Mortality Trends

Background: In recent decades, climate change has increasingly concerned the scientific community not only due to its environmental impact but also due to its direct and indirect impact to human health. The aim of this systematic review was to investigate the current evidence on the impacts of several climate parameters -such as temperature, floods, humidity, air pollution, wildfires and dust- on human health in terms of both mortality and morbidity. Methods: Systematic search for observational studies on climate change effect on human mortality and morbidity published in the last ten years in PubMed, EBSCOhost and Scopus. Results: A total of 57 articles were included in this systematic review. A positive association between extreme heat/cold events, temperature variation and air pollution with mortality was reported from most studies. Moreover, floods might be associated with infant mortality. Cardiovascular diseases are attributed to extreme temperature conditions and humidity is linked to cardiovascular diseases. The chronic exposure to air pollution is strongly associated with respiratory diseases. Floods and wildfires cause mainly respiratory and gastrointestinal illnesses, while dust exacerbates respiratory diseases like asthma. Conclusions: The data derived from the studies confirm the significant impact of temperature, air pollution, humidity, floods, wildfires and dust on both physical and mental health.