Fall is here, and it’s about time: In Washington, DC, this summer brought “relentless heat” and more than fifty 90 degree days — way more than average. This wasn’t just a local issue, though. Globally, this was officially the hottest summer on record. We roasted.
Heat is a marker of our changing climate. It’s also a health threat in and of itself. It can cause heat exhaustion and heat stroke, it can trigger asthma attacks, and it can trigger premature birth in pregnant women. Heat is also correlated with another grave health impact: Violence. (Tweet this)
I spoke recently with Dr. Laura Anderko, director of the Mid-Atlantic Center for Children’s Health and the Environment and professor of nursing at Georgetown University, about the relationship between heat and violence.
Moms Clean Air Force: What are you learning as you look into this issue?
Dr. Laura Anderko: There are consistent, significant links between violence and climate change. We all know that when we experience hot days, we get crabby and maybe we don’t feel up to par. But surprising for me was that the prevalence and incidence of domestic abuse increases with extreme heat. It also increases for families who are under extreme stress from hurricanes, wildfires — anything that disrupts their social network. One study showed new cases of child abuse increased up to five times as a result of a hurricane. This was found in kids less than two years of age, and it was specifically related to head injuries that were being seen in the emergency room.
As temperatures increase, acts of violence and aggression increase. That’s very well documented. What also was surprising to me was that for every increase in just 2°F, there would be approximately 24,000 additional murders or assaults in the United States. That’s pretty significant. Across the country we are seeing extreme heat, regardless of where you live. You may not get wildfires, you may not get flooding, but most of us are seeing significant increases in the number of high heat days and how hot it gets. This has the potential for real consequences as we are looking at families trying to cope with and adapt to these changes, which are happening really quickly.
Are there other climate impacts that might contribute to this problem, or is it mostly heat?
Any extreme weather event, particularly for families who are already stressed financially – any traumatic event, there’s about a 20% chance that they will end up with severe mental health issues as a result. So anytime that you have big swings in weather and an inability to cope, communities not having support mechanisms, being separated from friends and family, all those things really have a huge impact on families’ ability to adapt. Post-Katrina, there was a lot of violence. Part of that had a lot to do with the social fabric being ripped apart, the lack of safety, and people not having the ability to get out of town because they didn’t drive. The research is still coming in. The events are not always linked to violence per se. But there is a pretty strong track record that extreme weather events in general lead to poor mental health.
What would you say to moms who are concerned about this? How can we protect our own kids and all children?
Years ago I was a public health nurse. My caseload was domestic violence and children who were abused. Air conditioning was not as predominant 30 years ago. I would actually talk to moms and give them places where they could go for the day, where it was air-conditioned: A library, a mall, stores. The good news is that many communities have cooling centers. It’s really important for families and moms to get familiar with where there are cooling centers where they can get out of the heat on the really hot days, and how to get there. Extreme heat has been strongly linked with preterm birth. So moms who are pregnant really need to stay out of the heat. There is significant association between extreme heat and preterm delivery. So find out in your community where those cooling centers might be.
More information on climate change and violence (from Dr. Laura Anderko):
- Fernandez A, Black J, et al. Flooding and mental health: A systematic mapping review. PLoS One. 2015 Apr 10;10(4):e0119929. http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0119929
- Fritze JG, Blashki GA, Burke S, Wiseman J. Hope, despair and transformation: Climate change and the promotion of mental health and wellbeing. Int J Ment Health Syst. 2008 Sep 17;2(1):13. http://ijmhs.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1752-4458-2-13
- Goldmann E, Galea S. Mental health consequences of disasters. Annu Rev Public Health. 2014;35:169-83.
- Hsiang, Burke, & Miguel, 2013. Quantifying the influence of climate on human conflict. Science, Vol. 341, Issue 6151. http://science.sciencemag.org/content/341/6151/1235367
- McMichael AJ, Lindgren E. Climate change: present and future risks to health, and necessary responses. J Intern Med. 2011 Nov;270(5):401-13. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2796.2011.02415.x/full
- Ranson 2014. Crime, weather, and climate change. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management. Volume 67, Issue 3, May 2014, Pages 274–302. http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/study-climate-change-will-caus/25310658
- Yun, Lurie, & Hyde, 2010. Moving Mental Health into the Disaster-Preparedness Spotlight. New England Journal of Medicine; 363:1193-1195. http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1008304#t=article