Effects of climate change on public health 2015-2020. A systematic review

Abstract

Background: Anthropogenic climate change is a phenomenon that is becoming increasingly important in many areas such as economics and politics, but it also has great scientific relevance due to the important effects it has on people’s health, the relationship between climate change and Health has caused an increase in the production of scientific knowledge about this topic and therefore the objective of this article was to provide an updated review of the open access scientific evidence, in the last five years, related to the effects of anthropogenic climate change in Public Health.

Methods: A systematic review was conducted, in Spanish and English, in four non-subscription databases; using online thesaurus terms, the inclusion and exclusion criteria, an evaluation with the STROBE checklist were applied.

Results: Finally, 18 publications were analyzed. These showed: the relationship between extreme events, such as heat and cold waves, with the increase in mortality from various causes, especially from heart attacks; the alteration of the rainy and drought periods as a determinant of various infectious diseases; air pollution from emissions derived from the use of fossil fuels with the reduction of 2.9 years in world life expectancy. In addition, other authors reported predictions from climate alterations in health risks; and perceptions of the population, and decision-makers about the impacts of climate change on Public Health.

Conclusion: The studies, regardless of the region or country, showing the relationships and impacts, local and global, of climatic variations on the health of populations.