Climate change's impact on the nervous system: A review study.

Abstract

Background: Global warming is caused by increased carbon dioxide and other industrial gases, which shift the climate of human habitat and environment, impacting human health globally. In this review, we tried to overview the current knowledge of climate change's impact on neurological disease.

Methods: A comprehensive search on PubMed, Web of Science (WOS), and Scopus was conducted to find the relevant original studies. Language, sex, age, date, or country of study were not restricted. Included studies report increased Alzheimer's disease mortality and hospital admission.

Results: This increase was seen from the first day with high temperature to 3-4 days later. Parkinson's disease (PD) subjects were more vulnerable to high temperatures compared to dementia patients (RR for dementia: 1.29 and for PD: 1.41). Global warming was linked to the increase in the incidence of Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) (from 0.1% to 5.4%), Japanese encephalitis (OR: 2 when floods occur), and ciguatera fish poisoning (CFP) (RR: 1.62 for each 1 ^◦C increase per month).

Conclusion: Health-related consequences of climate change are inevitable. The burden of medical problems related to the elderly population (especially the elderly with dementia), infectious diseases, and CFP on the healthcare system will naturally increase. Studying global warming trends could empower us with more precise predictions of the future and better planning to face climate change-related challenges.