Hotter days may be harder on our mental health

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2022-02-24 03:00

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Days of extreme heat may cause higher rates of mental health-related emergency department visits, according to an international study of adults in the United States. The study used medical claims data for ED visits with psychiatric diagnosis during warm season months from 2010 to 2019, which included almost 3.5 million ED visits. They found that days of extreme heat were specifically associated with higher rates of ED visits for conditions like substance use disorder, anxiety, stress and mood disorders, schizophrenia, self-harm, and childhood-onset behavioural disorders. The research also found that the rate of ED visits on days of extreme heat was higher among men vs women. They suggest that because the heat seems to affect a range of conditions, it is likely that the higher temperatures cause extra external stress for people experiencing mental-health-related disorders.

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Journal/
conference: JAMA Psychiatry

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Boston University School of Public Health, USA

Funder: This study was supported by grant R01-ES029950 from the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (Drs Nori-Sarma, S. Sun, Spangler, andWellenius and Mr Y. Sun) and grant 216033-Z-19-Z from theWellcome Trust (Drs Nori-Sarma, S. Sun, Spangler, andWellenius and Mr Y. Sun).

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